The pilgrimage is part of the national migrant and refugee pilgrimage, the highlight of the 53rd National Migration Week, which began on the 10th and concludes next Sunday.
Its theme is “Migrants, Missionaries of Hope,” echoing the message of Pope Leo XIV for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, observed on October 4 and 5.
Celebrations at the Fatima Sanctuary start at 5:30 PM with the Eucharistic procession, followed by the recitation of the rosary at 9:30 PM, the candlelight procession, and the celebration of the Word.
On Wednesday, the religious ceremonies commence with the Eucharistic procession at 7:00 AM, followed by the rosary in the Chapel at 9:00 AM.
The mass, featuring the blessing of the sick and the farewell procession, concludes the pilgrimage, also known as the emigrant’s pilgrimage. It includes a tradition dating back over 80 years, when young members of the Catholic Agricultural Youth from 17 parishes of the then Leiria Diocese offered wheat.
According to the sanctuary, Wednesday afternoon marks the 70th anniversary of the Fatima Sanctuary Museum’s foundation, with a guided tour of the temporary exhibition and a short documentary screening.
The museum’s mission is to study and share the history and memory of the Fatima Apparitions and the Sanctuary, through “the preservation and exhibition of various material testimonies from the time of the Apparitions and multiple items collected throughout Fatima’s history.”
Its most emblematic piece is the crown of the Image of the Virgin of Fatima, according to the sanctuary’s official website.
The crown was offered in 1942 by the women of Portugal after a jewelry campaign, in gratitude to the Virgin Mary for the country not participating in World War II. It incorporates the bullet extracted from the body of Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) after an assassination attempt in St. Peter’s Square, Rome, in 1981.
Also on Wednesday, the fall of the Berlin Wall will be remembered during the rosary and candle procession near the monument at the southern entrance of the Prayer Hall, placed there on August 13, 1994.
Weighing 2,600 kilograms and measuring 3.60 meters high by 1.20 meters wide, the fragment of the Berlin Wall reached Fatima through the efforts of a Portuguese emigrant.
