Fatima was central to the spirituality of St John Paul II, writes Greg Daly “In the designs of Providence there are no mere coincidences,” declared St John Paul II in Fatima on May 12, 1982, a day short of the first anniversary of Mehmet Ali Agca’s attempt on the then Pope’s life in St Peter’s…

While St John Paul II’s devotion to Fatima may be proverbial, and while Pope Francis’ visit to the shrine may be filling the headlines, it is always worth remembering that their devotion to Fatima is one shared by countless Catholics – and even, as described below, Muslims! Some four million people visit the Portuguese shrine…

Philip Kosloski As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, one aspect that could easily go unnoticed is the subtle connection with Islam. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the three shepherd children near the village of Fatima, Portugal, a place named after both a Muslim princess and the…

Junno Arocho Esteves When it comes to Marian apparitions, the Catholic Church takes a prudent approach that focuses more on the message than the miracle. Supernatural phenomena, like the alleged miracle of the Sun in Fatima, Portugal, nearly 100 years ago, are not the primary factors in determining an apparition is worthy of belief. In…

In recent years apparitions at Kibeho in Rwanda and Champion, in the US state of Wisconsin, have been approved by their diocesan bishops, the former having taken place in 1981-1982, the latter in 1859. Despite devotion on a vast scale, alleged apparitions at Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina have been rejected by local bishops. Major Marian sites…

Fr Dwight Longenecker Rational explanations for Fatima admit the supernatural, argues Fr Dwight Longenecker Atheists love to mock miracles, and the miracle of the Sun at Fatima is one of their favourite objects of derision. The high priest of the atheists, Richard Dawkins dismisses the miracle of the Sun as a mass hallucination. He writes…

Greg Daly explores one of the Portuguese appartions’ most intriguing aspects In the decades following the apparitions, Fatima was mainly known, like Lourdes and other Marian sites, as a place of healing. However, in her 1941 memoirs, Sr Lucia wrote about how during Our Lady’s third apparition, she gave the children a message in three…

Parish, families and schools all have key roles to play in sacramental preparation, Greg Daly hears For at least one speaker at last weekend’s McAuley Conference in Limerick’s Mary Immaculate College, the question of whether sacramental preparation should be removed from schools is a simple one. “Yes,” said Stijn Van den Bossche, continuing, “this is…

Mary is the “Mother of the Needy”, Pope Francis declared in Fatima last weekend, cautioning pilgrims against thinking of her as “a plaster statue” of our own making from whom favours can be begged at little cost, and who “restrains the arm of a vengeful God”. Instead, the Pope said, Mary is the mother of…