- Pope Francis conducts service at Shrine of Fatima, Portugal, attended by thousands of worshippers.
- Pope Francis offers solemn prayer before Virgin Mary statue at the chapel.
- Tweets prayers for the church, world, and countries at war.
Thousands of worshippers gathered at the Shrine of Fatima in Portugal as Pope Francis conducted a service on Saturday. The shrine holds significant importance for Catholics and is revered as the place where the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in 1917.
During the service, Pope Francis took the time to interact with the congregation, stopping to kiss babies brought to him. He then recited the rosary with 112 sick youths, people with disabilities, and prisoners at the chapel.
In his address to the estimated crowd of around 200,000 people, the Pope emphasized the need for an inclusive Church. He referred to the chapel as a symbol of the welcoming nature of the Church, stating that it has no doors so that everyone can enter, which received applause from the crowd.
Notably, for the second consecutive day, Pope Francis departed from his prepared remarks, speaking impromptu during the service. It’s worth mentioning that the Pope’s health has become increasingly fragile, and he now uses a wheelchair or walking stick to move around.
According to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, Pope Francis delivered an improvised speech on Friday due to “discomfort of vision,” while in Fatima, it was a conscious choice. During the service at the chapel, the Pope offered a solemn prayer in silence before a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Afterward, the pontiff published a tweet, now being rebranded as ´X´, expressing his prayers for the “church and the world, especially for countries at war.”
Pope Francis arrived in Portugal for World Youth Day, a six-day international Catholic event, and conducted the service at Fatima, attracting around one million faithful attendees. He will later lead a vigil at the Parque Tejo in Lisbon, where organizers anticipate one million attendees at the park, which was specially built for the event on a former landfill site.
Fatima remains a significant pilgrimage site, drawing millions of pilgrims from across the globe.
