Pope Francis addresses journalists during the traditional press conference on his flight back to Rome, following a two-day visit at Fatima, Portugal, Saturday, May 13, 2017. Joao Baptista and his wife, Lucila Yuri, told reporters at the Catholic shrine in Fatima, Portugal, on Thursday that they and Brazilian nuns prayed to the late shepherd children who said the Virgin Mary appeared to them in “visions” in 1917. FATIMA, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis and pilgrims from around the world are flocking to a Catholic shrine town in Portugal to honor poor, illiterate shepherd children whose visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago marked one of the most important events of the 20th-century Catholic Church. The Associated Press reports that, according to the Vatican, about 500,000 people watched from the square in front of the shrine's basilica. There was no official crowd estimate, but authorities have said they are expecting 1 million to come for the centenary of the Fatima apparitions when three shepherd children said the Virgin Mary appeared to them. In what came to be called the “Miracle of the Sun,” many reported seeing visions in the sky while others reported miracles of healing. Their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, at 10 the ringleader of the group and who became the main raconteur of their tale, is on track for beatification, the first step toward becoming a saint. She died in 2005 at the age of 97, having become a nun and written several memoirs about the visions she and the other children saw. Alison Roberts reported for NPR's Newscast that Francis is the fourth pope to visit the shrine at Fátima, but the centenary and the canonization of the new saints gives Pope Francis's visit special significance for Catholics.
Catholics in Portugal converge in a shrine in Fatima for a visit by Pope Francis.