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At the time the Fatima celebrations began, this Monday, October 12, the sanctuary was for 4,500 people, far from the capacity of 6,000 authorized by the General Directorate of Health (DGS). Only the entrance to the southern colonnade had reached the limit for authorized pilgrims. In total, there are eight entries.
As some economic and political agents prophesied, most of the pilgrims who regularly visit the Sanctuary (in this last pilgrimage) chose one of two aspects: either it was not or it was during the week. On Sunday, for example, the capacity was reached.
“But Sunday is always the best day,” Georgina Lopes, a trader who felt the economic reason in October, told DN. After all, this was the month most sought after by foreign groups. And the figures revealed this Monday, by the Rector of the Shrine, give an account of it: a year ago, this pilgrimage had 733 groups (559 foreigners and 174 Portuguese), in a total of one hundred thousand registered pilgrims. Until yesterday, counting those registered until November, there are 93 groups: 33 from Portugal, 26 from Spain, 11 from Poland, one from Slovenia, one from Mexico, one from Hungary, one from China, one from Canada, one from Belgium and one of the missionary seminarians of different nationalities.
This was the pilgrimage that the Archbishop of Panama would preside over, but the pandemic changed the rounds for the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima: in the absence of air connections, it was without effect. So the celebration was presided over by D. José Ornelas, Bishop of Setúbal, who since June has presided over the Portuguese Episcopal Conference.
“I am plan B”, the prelate began to joke during the press conference. No one would say, after hearing him in the evening’s homily. D. José Ornelas looked at one of the images from the Apocalypse, the last book of the Bible, in a painting that highlights “the limited, violent and destructive reality that endangers the life and future of humanity.”
“In addition to this pandemic, and the others that have always occurred and can occur, this project of Mother Humanity and Matria-New Humanity is affected by many pandemic monsters that endanger everyone’s life and future”, began by saying D. José Ornelas, who after all wanted to speak to the pilgrims of a very earthly reality: “During this pandemic, along with the most heroic disinterest and generosity of so many people, many powerful manipulative and populists, without remorse for using suffering and social confusion, to extract political and economic dividends from it, even creating conflicts and mobilizing their own power for their conflicting and strategic objectives, which always leave the most fragile humanity behind ”.
“This is the monster that the image of the Apocalypse tells us about,” said the Bishop of Setúbal. Even so, the president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference believes that it is possible to extract signs of hope from there, in the middle of the pandemic. “Today, in Cova da Iria or in our homes, in the midst of this pandemic, somehow we feel like the woman who crosses the desert, worried and prudent, but safe and courageous”, alluding to that image of the Apocalypse, when a woman is about to give birth but faces “dramatic difficulties and oppositions.”
The ceremony Monday night was attended by 51 priests and nine bishops. Even before starting, the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima, D. António Marto, foresaw the particularity of what would be the night of the international pilgrimage of the anniversary, “under the restrictions of the pandemic.” In May, when the celebrations took place in an unprecedented way, without pilgrims, still in total confinement, Cardinal António Marto believed that at this point it would be possible to have floods in the Sanctuary again. But the pandemic resumed an upward curve and drove away the pilgrims in droves. “We are living a new moment of trial and choice. This virus that has plagued us since March, in addition to changing our habits, makes us reflect on our testimony, which must be a cry against global injustice.”
“We cannot be paralyzed by fear”said the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima, urging that “Show us another kind of contagion, the contagion of love”. Furthermore, “at Christmas we cannot repeat what happened at Easter,” he said. “And it’s up to us, it’s our choice.” Last night, most of the pilgrims chose to stay at home, attending the ceremonies online. And D. António Marto even praised “the pilgrims, who in May respected the call not to come, and now they are respecting, coming in stages. The behavior of Christians has been exemplary,” he concluded, renewing an appeal: “We are aware of the severity of the pandemic, which is exceeding predictions in numbers. Therefore, while continuing to practice our charitable support, I ask everyone to look back and pray to Our Lady, asking her to help us come out of the pandemic. “
The cardinal recalled that fraternity and social friendship “are the social nerve of this encyclical of Pope Francis, in the face of a dehumanized, fragmented and divided world, whose pathologies were aggravated by the pandemic.”
Drastic reduction of pilgrims
Since the contingency plan of the Shrine for the celebrations of this October 13 – which marks the sixth and last apparition of Our Lady to the little shepherds – was revealed, in which DGS set the maximum number of pilgrims in the enclosure at 6000, Most of Who did the route on foot decided to do it in advance. On Sunday, for example, the Shrine reached this capacity.
“The lack of pilgrims affects not only the life of the Sanctuary but the entire life of the city of Fátima and its surroundings”, said the rector, while giving the most recent figures: “This year, between March and September, we had 436 groups canceled,” having the certainty that October was the month of international pilgrimages, unlike May, which always it was dominated by pilgrims. national. 11 groups from Portugal, four from Italy, four from France, two from Germany and one from Belgium are registered for this pilgrimage. Last year 1,530 arrived from all over the country (363 in May).
But the data from the Sanctuary show another reality, which makes clear what is happening with local hotels: last year, foreigners were 2854 registered groups, of which 452 in May, and the rest in October. A year ago, this pilgrimage had 733 groups (559 foreigners and 174 Portuguese), with a total of one hundred thousand registered pilgrims. Last night there were only 4,500.
