The LuLac Edition #3501, May 13th, 2017

100th ANNIVERSARY OF FATIMA

Pope Francis traveled to Portugal today to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Miracle at Fatima. The title is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary based on the famed Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria, in Fátima, Portugal. 

The three children were Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto.
Beginning in the spring of 1917, the children reported apparitions of an Angel, and starting in May of 1917, apparitions of the Virgin Mary, who the children described as the Lady of Fátima. The children reported a prophecy that prayer would lead to an end to the Great War, and that on October 13th of that the Lady would reveal her identity and perform a miracle "so that all may believe.
On 13 May 1946, Pope Pius XII granted a canonical coronation to the venerated image enshrined at the Chapel of the Apparitions of Fátima via his apostolic legate, Cardinal Benedetto Aloisi Masella. On 11 November 1954, the same Pontiff later raised the Sanctuary of Fátima to the status of Minor Basilica by his Papal brief Luce Superna.
The reported apparitions at Fátima were officially declared worthy of belief by the Catholic Church, which commemorates the event on the same date. The published memoirs of Lúcia Santos' in the 1930s revealed two secrets that she claimed came from the Virgin while the third secret was to be revealed by the Catholic Church in 1960. The controversial events at Fátima gained fame due partly to elements of the secrets, prophecy and eschatological revelations allegedly related to the Second World War and possibly more global wars in the future, particularly the Virgin's alleged request for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Now this feast and story was big deal to me growing up in the Catholic school system. Keep in mind that when I started school in 1960 it was just 14 years before that Pius declared the day. Plus 1917 was only less than fifty years in the rear view mirror too.
A little history regarding the Popes and Fatima. On 13 May 1942, the 25th anniversary of the first apparition and the silver jubilee of the episcopal consecration of Pope Pius XII, the Vatican published the "Message and Secret of Fátima." On 31 October 1942, Pope Pius XII, in a radio address to the people of Portugal, discussed the apparitions of Fátima and consecrated the human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin, with specific mention of Russia.
At the end of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI renewed the consecration of Pius XII to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In an unusual gesture, he announced his own pilgrimage to the sanctuary on the fiftieth anniversary of the first apparition. On 13 May 1967, he prayed at the shrine together with Sister Lúcia.
In the final and historic consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pope John Paul II on 25 March 1984 consecrated Russia and the world in a public ceremony at St. Peter's in Rome; the consecration was in the form of a 'whole-world consecration' carried out in union with the Catholic bishops throughout the world. Cardinal Bertone said to the press many times that the message of Fátima was finished.
Pope John Paul II credited Our Lady of Fátima with saving his life following an assassination attempt on 13 May, 1981, the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima. Then on 12 May 1987, he expressed his gratitude to the Virgin Mary for saving his life. 

In March 2017 the Holy See announced that Pope Francis will canonize two of the visionaries, Jacinta and Francisco, on 13 May at a Mass in Fatima during a two day visit. He did that today. The decision followed papal confirmation of a miracle attributed to the intercession of the two visionaries
With all of the chatter about Russia in this year,  this 100th anniversary worthy to note as a type of geo political/religious/cultural post.   (catholic daily, LuLac, wikipedia).