Identity: the fundamentals of the phenomenon

Fatima is a place of pilgrimage, which celebrates the memory of its founding event, the apparitions of Our Lady to the three little Shepherds, in 1917. Since the building of the Shrine of Fatima, papal visits and the study and dissemination of the Fatima secret message are part of the identity of this altar

The Popes

The first express reference by the Vatican to Fátima was on the 31st of October, 1942, by the voice of Pope Pius XII on a radio message

The secret

The Secret of Fátima refers to the revelations of the Virgin Mary to three Portuguese children: Lúcia de Jesus dos Santos, Francisco Marto, and Jacinta Marto - the three little shepherds, on the 13th of July, 1917, in Cova da Iria

Lúcia

The eldest of the three seers of Fatima, she took a vow of silence – rarely broken in the following six decades –, but still deserved the Media's attention: many millions of people around the world know her name and the extraordinary event that will forever be associated with her.