(OSV News) Carmelite Sister Lucia dos Santos, the last surviving Fatima visionary, died in the Carmelite cloister in Coimbra, Portugal, in February 2005 at the age of 97. At the time of her death, St. John Paul II recalled their bonds of spiritual friendship that intensified with the passing of time. I always felt supported by the daily gift of her prayers, especially in difficult moments of trial and suffering, the pope wrote in a message to Bishop Albino Mamede Cleto of Coimbra, less t
(OSV News) Carmelite Sister Lucia dos Santos, the last surviving Fatima visionary, died in the Carmelite cloister in Coimbra, Portugal, in February 2005 at the age of 97. At the time of her death, St. John Paul II recalled their bonds of spiritual friendship that intensified with the passing of time. I always felt supported by the daily gift of her prayers, especially in difficult moments of trial and suffering, the pope wrote in a message to Bishop Albino Mamede Cleto of Coimbra, less t
By Ben Joseph
The crowd-pulling World Youth Day that the Vatican organizes every three years is battling the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic to celebrate its next edition.
Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, is set to host the 36-year-old Catholic pilgrimage, the world s largest gathering of young Catholics. It was scheduled for August 2022 but Pope Francis postponed it last April to August 2023.
While the Vatican went online with many liturgical and papal events, it had adopted a wait-and-watch approach when it came to the gathering that attracts millions of youth from all continents.
The Holy See also put on hold the World Meeting of Families in Rome from June 2021 to 2022 another mega-event that sees the papal presence and gathering of hundreds of thousands of people.