Pope Francis is embarking on a high-profile pilgrimage to Fatima in central Portugal, a shrine where he plans to make two shepherd children saints.
It is 100 years since the two – and a third child – reported seeing the Virgin Mary while tending sheep. The third is also on the way to sainthood.
Portugal has boosted security and reimposed border controls, suspending the Schengen open borders pact. More than a million pilgrims are expected. The three revered children are dead.
The Roman Catholic Church attaches great value to their visions, as Mary is believed to have revealed truths to help mankind. The Church says the first vision came on 13 May, 1917.
In a video message to the people of Portugal, the Pope said he was going to present himself to Mary “and I need to feel you close, physically and spiritually, so that we are one heart and one mind”.
Jacinta and Francisco Marto are to be canonised on Saturday. They died in the 1918-1919 European influenza pandemic.
The so-called three secrets of Fatima were written down by the third child – their cousin Lucia dos Santos – who died in 2005, aged 97. The beatification process for her began in 2008.
Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta Marto (L-R), who had vision of Virgin Mary in 1917
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