Courtney McGrailOur Lady of Fatima bound for Syria
The statue of Our Lady of Fatima will leave Portugal for Syria on September 7 to be offered for veneration in Damascus.
Intended as a sign of Christian solidarity with suffering Syrians, the pilgrimage is a response to an appeal from His Beatitude Gregory III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and Alexandria and Jerusalem.
Earlier this month, Fatima Rector Fr Carlos Cabecinhas said the event was designed “to implore the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the peace and well-being of the Christian communities of the country who are suffering the destruction of war”.
Pakistan allows Bibi father to visit
Asia Bibi’s father, Soran Masih, has succeeded in his application to Pakistan’s High Court to be allowed visit his daughter in prison at Multan. This is the first time he will have visited her since her incarceration in 2009 on blasphemy charges.
Though Pakistan’s Supreme Court recently ruled that much of the case against Asia Bibi was inadmissible, she remains on death row, in isolation and reportedly suffering ill health, amid repeated postponements of her appeal hearing.