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A nun wearing a face mask attends a ceremony commemorating the 103rd anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady Fatima at the Sanctuary of Fatima in central Portugal on May 13, 2020. – Without the multitude of pilgrims she hosts each year, the Fatima shrine celebrated the anniversary during a minimized religious ceremony. —AFP
FATIMA, Portugal: Without the hundreds of thousands of worshipers it receives every May 13, the vast esplanade of Portugal’s Catholic shrine of Fatima was nearly empty for its annual celebration for the first time in its century-long history.
Closed to the public due to the new coronavirus pandemic, only about 30 employees attended mass on Wednesday in the small town where three poor shepherd children reported visions of the Virgin Mary in 1917.
Last year, 6.3 million people visited the shrine, the country’s most famous pilgrimage site.
“Many people may think that this pilgrimage is sad because it is celebrated on closed grounds without the large crowds and the color of previous years,” recognized local Bishop Antonio Marto from an altar mounted in the plaza, in a ceremony broadcast online. . .
In a message read by Marto, Pope Francis, who visited the shrine in 2017, also lamented that the “force of circumstances” had made the pilgrimage to Fatima impossible.
“Today it is only through the heart and soul that we can make the connection with the Virgin Mary,” said the Pope.
The city’s merchants and hoteliers counted their losses.
In front of his small store, one of the few that reopened after the country lifted a state of emergency last week, Manuel Moniz bitterly regretted the absence of tourists.
“We don’t see anyone and we don’t sell anything. I’ve never seen anything like this,” said the 72-year-old man.
The closure of Portugal’s borders and the paralysis of the tourism sector are having “a disastrous impact on the entire region,” said Alexandre Marto, who runs a cooperative of about 10 hotels with 1,000 beds, out of a total of 9,000 in Fatima.
“This week alone, I estimate that we have lost around 45,000 overnight stays,” he said, noting that foreign tourists represent more than 70 percent of city hotel guests.
After mass, in front of the deserted sanctuary complex, a priest had another lesson in the unusual circumstances surrounding the annual event.
“This loneliness and this desolation offer a spiritual and human experience, which makes us understand that alone, we cannot enrich life,” said Francisco Pereira.
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