the virgin of fatima is said to be mary of miracles and prophecies. you know, when she appeared to those three shepard children in 1917, the story is she gave them visions and messages. those messages are known as the secrets of fatima and in those messages some say she predicted the wars and the suffering that were to come in the 20th century. that has been a source of mystery and of debate in the catholic church since 1917. and one of the main reasons why there is such interest in this place and why there are about more than 600,000 people who have come to be here today. the other reason is john paul ii. you remember that john paul ii was shot in st. peter s square in 1981 and he was shot on may 13. that is the feast day. the feast day of our lady of fatima and credited her with saving his life and he brought the bullet, which was lodged in his body here to fatima and
as the queen of heaven. and she hasn t stepped down since. they couldn t deal with the real mary. she was just too strong, too intelligent, too capable. they had to sort of pare her down, make her two-dimensional, just this icon. they had to make her virgin, and only virgin. and the icon, as centuries of artists have shown us, is blonde and blue-eyed. but the reality may come as something of a shock. i would assume that she looked like other middle eastern women, which would have been dark haired and dark skinned. and she probably would have been about the same height as women of her time. and what we know about that is, that s probably five feet 5 1 , 5 2 , somewhere in there. and scholars say her name wasn t mary, but mariam, in the aramaic language she spoke in a small town called nazareth. it was a rural existence, governed by the rituals of jewish life, and by roman soldiers in the nearby city of
on may 13th, 1981, the pope was shot in st. peter s square and barely survived. rescued from death, he believed, by mary s hand. i believe and i am sure he believes it, too, that it was the virgin of fatima that saved him. yes, i think he believes it. the pope has said once to my bishop that he comes to fatima every day. fatima is the town in portugal where the catholic church believes this image of the virgin mary appeared to three shepherd children on may 13, 1916, 65 years to the day that the pope was nearly killed by this bullet. the virgin mary also gave three secrets to the children. the first, a vision of hell. the second, the need to defeat
they couldn t deal with the real mary. she was just too strong, too intelligent, too capable. they had to sort of pare her down, make her two-dimensional, just this icon. they had to make her virgin, and only virgin. and the icon, as centuries of artists have shown us, is blonde and blue-eyed. but the reality may come as something of a shock. i would assume that she looked like other middle eastern women, which would have been dark haired and dark skinned. and she probably would have been about the same height as women of her time. and what we know about that is, that s probably five feet 5 1 , 5 2 , somewhere in there. and scholars say her name wasn t mary, but mariam, in the aramaic language she spoke in a small town called nazareth. it was a rural existence, governed by the rituals of jewish life, and by roman soldiers in the nearby city of
heart of marian devotion. that has been especially true under pope john paul ii and with good reason. on may 13th, 1981, the pope was shot in st. peter s square and barely survived. rescued from death, he believed, by mary s hand. i believe and i am sure he believes it, too, that it was the virgin of fatima that saved him. yes, i think he believes it. the pope has said once to my bishop that he comes to fatima every day. fatima is the town in portugal where the catholic church believes this image of the virgin mary appeared to three shepherd children on may 13, 1916, 65 years to the day that the pope was nearly killed by this bullet.