About 500,000 worshippers gathered at Fatima in Portugal on Saturday as Pope Francis declared Francisco and Jacinta who had visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago saints.
Francisco and Jacinta the two of the three young, barely-literate shepherds who had visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago in Fatima Portugal were officially declared Saints on Saturday by Pope Francis at the 400,000-capacity esplanade Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, while Catholic worshippers from all over the world participated in the canonization as many other faithful watched the canonization on giant screens from adjacent streets in an emotional outdoor service in the central Portuguese town that has become a global draw for pilgrims.
The Papal during the Canonization Mass said “We declare the blissful Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto saints,” at the St Peters Basilica where the siblings are buried.
History from Catholic Church was that Virgin Mary was said to have appeared six times between May and October 1917 to Jacinta, then 7, Francisco, 9 and their cousin Lucia, 10. She apparently shared three prophesies with the children at a period marked by the ravages of World War I, which the Church believes included a vision of hell and a warning of a second major conflict. The third secret, which was only made public by the Vatican in 2000, foretold the attempted assassination in Rome of Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981, the anniversary of the first apparition in Fatima.
Pope Benedict XVI later gave an updated interpretation of the third prophesy saying it could include the suffering of the Church following sexual abuse scandals that shook the Vatican.
Francisco died in 1919 and his sister Jacinta the following year in the Spanish Influenza epidemic that swept through Europe at the end of the war while their cousin Lucia lived to become a Nun until she died 2005.
