The Latest on Pope Francis' trip to Fatima shrine in Portugal (all times local):

Pope Francis has arrived at the shrine in Fatima to an ecstatic welcome from the huge crowds waiting in the pilgrimage site's vast square.

The basilica's bells rang out as the pontiff passed in his popemobile through a sea of people waving flags from dozens of countries.

The crowd fell silent as Francis stood and prayed at the Chapel of the Apparitions, dedicated to the three local shepherd children who said the Virgin Mary appeared to them here 100 years ago. He will make two of them saints at a Mass on Saturday.

After arriving in Portugal at a military air base, the pope traveled 10 minutes by helicopter to Fatima, twice circling the shrine before landing as crowds waved.

Crowds of well-wishers in Portugal hoping to see Pope Francis have lined up along the barbed-wire fence surrounding the military air base where he landed.

In nearby Fatima, the pontiff's destination, throngs of people in the shrine's huge square erupted in cheers when TV screens showed him stepping off the plane. There was no official crowd estimate, but authorities have said they are expecting 1 million to come for the centenary of the Fatima apparitions when three shepherd children said the Virgin Mary appeared to them.

A small group of schoolchildren serenaded Francis on the tarmac. The pope rode in an electric golf cart to the air base's tiny chapel. He stopped to greet an elderly woman in a wheelchair, kissed children on the head and embraced a handicapped man.

Pope Francis has arrived in Portugal where he is to visit the shrine at Fatima, one of the world's most popular Catholic pilgrimage sites.

Two Portuguese Air Force F-16 fighter jets escorted the pope's plane as it came in to land at the Monte Real Portuguese Air Force base, which lies amid pine forests a short distance from the rural town of Fatima. A guard of honor has lined up on the runway next to the plane.

The pontiff's first official event Friday is a brief private meeting with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at the air base.

Fatima is famous for being the place where three Portuguese shepherd children said the Virgin Mary appeared to them in 1917. The pope will make two of them saints on Saturday.

Officials at the Catholic shrine in Fatima, Portugal say about 45,000 pilgrims are making their way on foot to the town for Pope Francis's visit, which is expected to draw 1 million people.

The pilgrims traditionally walk there as an expression of thanks to Our Lady of Fatima for helping them, or to pray to her for help. Others toss wax limbs into a fire beside the shrine's chapel as they say a prayer for healing.

Like the shrine at Lourdes, France, Fatima draws huge numbers of visitors from around the world — a total of around 6 million each year on average, local officials estimate.

The shrine was built where three shepherd children said 100 years ago that the Virgin Mary appeared to them in "visions." The pontiff, who arrives Friday, is to canonize two of the children on Saturday before leaving Portugal.

Open-air Masses are held in the shrine's vast square, in front of its basilica. The shrine's Church of the Holy Trinity, dedicated in 2007, can seat 8,633 people, officials say.

Portuguese authorities have mounted a huge security operation for Pope Francis's visit to the shrine at Fatima, which is 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of the capital Lisbon.

Officials say around 3,000 police and other security personnel are involved.

Before the pontiff's scheduled arrival on Friday afternoon, Portugal restored mandatory identity checks and vehicle inspections at its borders for European Union citizens.

Drones are banned over the shrine during the pontiff's visit of just under 24 hours. Police have placed concrete blocks on roads leading into the shrine to prevent truck attacks.

Authorities are expecting some 1 million people to converge on the small town where three shepherd children claimed in 1917 that the Virgin Mary appeared to them. Pope Francis will make two of the children saints on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people are gathering in the small town of Fatima in Portugal to see Pope Francis, who is due to arrive for a visit.

Officials say they expect around 1 million people to converge on the rural town, which hosts one of the world's most popular Catholic pilgrimage sites. Hotels and apartments were sold out months ago.

One hundred years ago, three Portuguese shepherd children said the Virgin Mary appeared to them in Fatima, and the pontiff is visiting the shrine on the centenary of the "visions."

Security is tight for the pope's scheduled arrival at 4:20 p.m. (1520 GMT) Friday afternoon.

On Saturday morning, Pope Francis is to hold a Mass to make two of the shepherd children saints.

Pope Francis and pilgrims from around the world are flocking to a Catholic shrine town in Portugal to honor two poor, illiterate shepherd children whose visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago marked one of the most important events of the 20th-century Catholic Church.

Francis departed from Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport on Friday afternoon to celebrate the centenary of the apparitions and canonize the children. He is hoping the message of peace that they reported 100 years ago, when Europe was in the throes of World War I, will resonate with the Catholic faithful today.

Thousands of pilgrims, waving flags from as far as Venezuela, Argentina and Cuba, braved a steady cold rain Friday as they waited for him, many spending the night outdoors. Over the past several days, church groups, families and individuals have made their way to Fatima, 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Lisbon.

Carrying candles, rosaries and roses, they have gone to the statue dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima or tossed wax body parts — ears, hearts, limbs — into a huge fire to pray for healing. </s> Pope Francis addresses journalists during the traditional press conference on his flight back to Rome, following a two-day visit at Fatima, Portugal, Saturday, May 13, 2017. Pope Francis added two Portuguese shepherd children to the roster of Catholic saints Saturday, honoring young siblings whose reported visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago turned the Portuguese farm town of Fatima into one of the world's most important Catholic shrines. (Tiziana Fabi/Pool Photo via AP) </s> FATIMA, PORTUGAL (Reuters) - Pope Francis will make two Portuguese shepherd children saints this week, crowning a belief that started with reported visions of the Madonna 100 years ago that have turned the Shrine of Fatima into one of the most famous in Christianity.

Up to a million people are expected to attend the canonisation mass on Saturday at the shrine for the children, who the Vatican believes received messages from the Madonna that have become known as the three secrets of Fatima.

"For this blessed moment that culminates a century of blessed moments, I rejoice in your preparations of intense prayer," the pope said in a message to the Portuguese people ahead of his two-day visit.

Fatima is a town in central Portugal where the apparitions were recorded. "I think it has a very big importance for the whole world,"said Vanessa, a worshipper who had made the pilgrimage to the shrine from the Philippines.

She called the canonisation "historic" in recognizing the impact of Fatima.

For Portugal, one of Europe's most Catholic countries with 81 percent of the population describing themselves as belonging to the faith, the event is a big deal and the story of Fatima is universally known.

"Welcome Pope Francis," read a huge poster with images of the pope and the shepherd children hung up on Lisbon's main traffic intersection.

Father Vitor Coutinho, deputy head of the sanctuary of Fatima, said the pope was showing the importance of Fatima to the church by carrying out the canonisation there rather than in Rome, where they are usually done.

"Therefore he is confirming that a life lived in the light of the spirituality of Fatima can lead to sainthood," Coutinho said.

The story of the shepherd children, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, has captivated Catholics ever since their first reported vision on May 13, 1917. Their first vision was of hell and a call to prayer and conversion, which if not heeded would lead to another world war.

The second was a warning that Russia would "spread her errors" in the world if people did not turn to God.

The third secret intrigued the world for nearly three-quarters of a century, inspiring books and cults.

Only in 2000 did the Vatican say the third secret was a prediction of the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, who survived and subsequently gave the bullet that hit him to the bishop of Fatima.

It was later put into the crown of the statue of Fatima and many Portuguese say the bullet was a perfect fit, providing evidence of the vision.

The Catholic Church posthumously confers sainthood on people considered so holy during their lives that they are now believed to be with God and can intercede with him to perform miracles.

Francisco and Jacinta's miracle is linked to the inexplicable healing from a terrible head injury of a Brazilian child, whose parents prayed to the siblings.

The child's parents are due to make a statement to the press at Fatima on Thursday.

Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta died a year later, both of pneumonia, when they were still just 9 and 10-years-old. The third sibling, Lucia, became a nun and died in 2005 at 97.

Portugal has taken a series of security measures for the pope's visit, including by reinstating border controls for a few days by suspending the Schengen Europe-wide free travel agreement.

In the large, open space around Fatima special cement blocks have been put in place to avoid the possibility of militant attacks such as those in Stockholm and Nice. </s> FATIMA, Portugal, May 11 (Reuters) - Pope Francis will make two Portuguese shepherd children saints this week, crowning a belief that started with reported visions of the Madonna 100 years ago that have turned the Shrine of Fatima into one of the most famous in Christianity.

Up to a million people are expected to attend the canonisation mass on Saturday at the shrine for the children, who the Vatican believes received messages from the Madonna that have become known as the three secrets of Fatima.

"For this blessed moment that culminates a century of blessed moments, I rejoice in your preparations of intense prayer," the pope said in a message to the Portuguese people ahead of his two-day visit.

Fatima is a town in central Portugal where the apparitions were recorded.

"I think it has a very big importance for the whole world," said Vanessa, a worshipper who had made the pilgrimage to the shrine from the Philippines.

She called the canonisation "historic" in recognizing the impact of Fatima.

For Portugal, one of Europe's most Catholic countries with 81 percent of the population describing themselves as belonging to the faith, the event is a big deal and the story of Fatima is universally known.

"Welcome Pope Francis," read a huge poster with images of the pope and the shepherd children hung up on Lisbon's main traffic intersection.

Father Vitor Coutinho, deputy head of the sanctuary of Fatima, said the pope was showing the importance of Fatima to the church by carrying out the canonisation there rather than in Rome, where they are usually done.

"Therefore he is confirming that a life lived in the light of the spirituality of Fatima can lead to sainthood," Coutinho said.

The story of the shepherd children, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, has captivated Catholics ever since their first reported vision on May 13, 1917. Their first vision was of hell and a call to prayer and conversion, which if not heeded would lead to another world war.

The second was a warning that Russia would "spread her errors" in the world if people did not turn to God.

The third secret intrigued the world for nearly three-quarters of a century, inspiring books and cults.

Only in 2000 did the Vatican say the third secret was a prediction of the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, who survived and subsequently gave the bullet that hit him to the bishop of Fatima.

It was later put into the crown of the statue of Fatima and many Portuguese say the bullet was a perfect fit, providing evidence of the vision.

The Catholic Church posthumously confers sainthood on people considered so holy during their lives that they are now believed to be with God and can intercede with him to perform miracles.

Francisco and Jacinta's miracle is linked to the inexplicable healing from a terrible head injury of a Brazilian child, whose parents prayed to the siblings.

The child's parents are due to make a statement to the press at Fatima on Thursday.

Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta died a year later, both of pneumonia, when they were still just 9 and 10-years-old. The third sibling, Lucia, became a nun and died in 2005 at 97.

Portugal has taken a series of security measures for the pope's visit, including by reinstating border controls for a few days by suspending the Schengen Europe-wide free travel agreement.

In the large, open space around Fatima special cement blocks have been put in place to avoid the possibility of militant attacks such as those in Stockholm and Nice. (Additional reporting by Miguel Pereira, writing By Axel Bugge, Editing by Angus MacSwan) </s> FATIMA, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis and pilgrims from around the world are flocking to a Catholic shrine town in Portugal to honor poor, illiterate shepherd children whose visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago marked one of the most important events of the 20th-century Catholic Church.

Francis arrives Friday to celebrate the centenary of the apparitions and canonize the children. He is hoping the message of peace that they reported 100 years ago, when Europe was in the throes of World War I, will resonate with the Catholic faithful today.

Thousands of pilgrims, waving flags from as far as Venezuela, Argentina and Cuba, braved a steady cold rain Friday as they waited for him, many spending the night outdoors to make sure they had a good spot.

Over the past several days, church groups, families and individuals have made their way to Fatima, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Lisbon, some completing the final leg of the pilgrimage on their knees in prayer.

Carrying candles, rosaries and roses, they have made their way to the statue dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima or tossed wax body parts — ears, hearts, limbs — into a huge fire to pray for healing.

“For me it is the second time I am here with a pope, first with John Paul II and now with Papa Francisco,” said pilgrim Elisabete Fradique Conceicao in between rain showers. “They are simple men and that simplicity makes sense when you think what happened here 100 years ago.”

On May 13, 1917, while they were grazing their sheep, the children saw the first of a half-dozen visions of the Virgin Mary. They said she revealed to them three “secrets” — apocalyptic messages foreshadowing World War II, hell, the rise and fall of communism and the death of a pope — and urged them to pray for peace and turn away from sin.

At first doubted by the local Catholic Church and even their parents, the children’s story gained believers and was eventually accepted as an authentic apparition by the church in 1930. The children being canonized, brother and sister Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who were 9 and 7 at the time of the apparitions, died of influenza two years later. Their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, at 10 the ringleader of the group and who became the main raconteur of their tale, is on track for beatification, the first step toward becoming a saint. Her case couldn’t begin until after her death in 2005.

Francis’ deputy, Cardial Pietro Parolin, said the importance of Fatima lies specifically in the fact that poor, illiterate children — not the wealthy, learned or intellectuals — were able to convey a powerful message of love and forgiveness at a time of war when “the talk was of hatred, vendetta, hostilities.”

Fatima has long been associated with St. John Paul II, given the Polish-born pope credited the Virgin Mary with having saved his life in 1981 when a would-be assassin shot him on Fatima’s feast day — May 13 — in St. Peter’s Square. John Paul made the first of his three pilgrimages to Fatima the following May, and one of the bullets fired at him now adorns the crown of the Madonna at the shrine.

Like John Paul, the Argentinian-born Francis is exceedingly devoted to the Madonna, thanks in large part to the strong role that Marian devotions play in the popular piety of Latin American Catholics.

Before every trip he takes, Francis brings a bouquet of flowers to an icon of Mary at the Rome basilica dedicated to her name, St. Mary Major.

On his first trip as pope, to Brazil, he prayed at the shrine to the Madonna at Aparecida. He has done the same at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, at the shrine of Caacupe in Paraguay and the Virgin of the Charity of Cobre in Cuba.

One major shrine he has avoided visiting is in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, where six youngsters reported having had regular, repeated visions of the Virgin starting in 1981. A Vatican-appointed doctrinal commission finished its study years ago, but Francis hasn’t released the results.

He has cautioned against such tales of regular visions, however, and has said Marian devotion must be to “the real Madonna. Not the Madonna who’s like the head of a post office who every day sends a different letter saying ‘My children, do this and then the next day says do that.'”

The church says the Fatima case is altogether different.

In a video message on the eve of his departure, Francis urged all faithful to join him, physically or spiritually, in Fatima.

“With all of us forming one heart and soul, I will then entrust you to Our Lady, asking her to whisper to each one of you: ‘My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the path that leads you to God.'” </s> Pope Francis heads to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in northern Portugal on Friday to celebrate the centenary of the first appearances of the Virgin Mary as described by three shepherd children on May 13, 1917.

What were those apparitions and why have they played such a central role in Catholicism over the past 100 years? And what are the “secrets of Fatima?” Let us explain:

Fatima is a small city in central Portugal where the landscape is dry and rocky. For centuries, people made their living raising sheep and other animals. In May 1917, three shepherd children — two girls and a boy — claimed they saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The children described Mary as “a lady dressed all in white, more brilliant than the sun.” Mary told the children that praying the rosary would end what was then called The Great War — World War I— which left 17 million dead.

According to the children, Mary appeared to them six times that year. In one appearance, Mary said a miracle would occur on Oct. 13, 1917. Initially the children were scolded and even threatened with death for spreading what were considered baseless stories. But pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Fatima on that date and awaited Mary’s appearance. In what came to be called the “Miracle of the Sun,” many reported seeing visions in the sky while others reported miracles of healing. A newspaper of the day reported, “Before their dazzled eyes the sun trembled, the sun made unusual and brusque movements, defying all the laws of the cosmos, and according to the typical expression of the peasants, ‘the sun danced.'”

In 1930, the Catholic Church declared the events at Fatima “worthy of belief,” and chapels, sanctuaries, shrines and other memorials to the events popped up.

Some people wonder about a connection to Islam because the village has the same name as the Prophet Muhammad’s favorite daughter. Legend has it that the village was named after a Moorish princess who converted to Christianity as Muslim rulers were driven from Portugal during the Reconquista.

Why do Catholics travel there?

When the church declared the Fatima apparitions worthy of belief, it said pilgrims who travel there may obtain a special blessing as well as pray for healing or other special intentions. Today, Fatima attracts between 5 million and 6 million pilgrims a year, making it one of the most popular shrines in the world. The largest numbers come on May 13 — the anniversary of the first apparitions. Pope Francis’ visit will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the apparitions.

Francis will be the fourth pontiff to visit Fatima; Pope Paul VI marked the 50th anniversary in 1967, John Paul II went three times and Benedict XVI visited once, in 2010, according to The Associated Press.

While there, Francis will canonize two of the shepherd children — Jacinta and Francisco, who first had the visions. Jacinta was 7 years old and Francisco, 9, on May 13, 1917, and their cousin Lucia dos Santos was 10. Jacinta and Francisco died a year later in the Spanish flu epidemic.

What are the 'Secrets of Fatima?'

Lucia dos Santos became a Carmelite nun and, in 1941, wrote her memoirs. In them, she said Mary gave the children three secrets, or prophecies, two of which she revealed at that time. The first secret was a vision of hell that Mary showed to the children, full of lakes of fire with screaming souls in torment. The second was that World War I would end — it did, a little more than a year after the children saw their first apparition — and that another great war would come if the people of Russia were not converted to Catholicism. They weren’t, and World War II began in 1939. There was also a prediction that Russia would “spread her errors throughout the world,” which many believe is a reference to Soviet communism.

Sister Lucia wasn’t eager to share the third prophecy, but was compelled to write it down in the case of her untimely death. She told Rome the secret could be revealed in 1960, but the Vatican decided to keep it sealed to avoid inflaming the wild speculation that was already connected with the so-called Third Secret of Fatima. Sister Lucia died in 2005 at age 97.

In 2000, then-Pope John Paul II — now St. John Paul — ordered the secret published. The prophecy turned out to be an apocalyptic vision of a terrible persecution of Christians, including priests and bishops and in particular “a Bishop dressed in White” who was killed by soldiers as he knelt before a cross at the top of a hill.

The publication hardly dampened the fervor over the Third Secret since the assassination attempt against John Paul took place on May 13, 1981 — the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima — as he rode around St. Peter’s Square wearing his white cassock, the traditional vestment of the Bishop of Rome. It seemed like a near-fulfillment of the prophecy and John Paul said that he believed the Virgin Mary saved his life by guiding the bullet past a major artery. He later sent the bullet to Fatima where it was placed in the crown of the original image of Our Lady of Fatima, fitting perfectly into the only empty space left available when the crown was made 40 years earlier.

Even now, however, there are conspiracy theorists who believe that the Third Secret has not been published in full, or that there is in fact a Fourth Secret of Fatima. Pope Francis is expected to try to tamp down such ideas and focus on his trip as a simple spiritual “pilgrimage” focused on personal conversion.

That’s a message that Vatican has been trying to connect to the Fatima apparitions for years in an effort to shift attention away from the more sensational claims and interpretations.

“Insofar as individual events are described, they belong to the past,” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — later Pope Benedict XVI — wrote in an authoritative text accompanying the publication of the Third Secret. “Those who expected exciting apocalyptic revelations about the end of the world or the future course of history are bound to be disappointed. Fatima does not satisfy our curiosity in this way, just as Christian faith in general cannot be reduced to an object of mere curiosity. What remains was already evident when we began our reflections on the text of the ‘secret’: the exhortation to prayer as the path of ‘salvation for souls’ and, likewise, the summons to penance and conversion.” </s> FATIMA, Portugal >> Pope Francis added two Portuguese shepherd children to the roster of Catholic saints Saturday, honoring young siblings whose reported visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago turned the Portuguese farm town of Fatima into one of the world’s most important Catholic shrines.

Francis proclaimed Francisco and Jacinta Marto saints at the start of Mass marking the centenary of their visions. A half-million people watched in the vast square in front of the shrine’s basilica, the Vatican said, citing Portuguese authorities. Many had spent days at Fatima in prayer, reciting rosaries before a statue of the Madonna. They clapped as soon as Francis read the proclamation aloud.

“It is amazing. It’s like an answer to prayer, because I felt that always they would be canonized,” said Agnes Walsh from Killarney, Ireland. She said she prayed to Francisco Marto for 20 years, hoping her four daughters would meet “nice boys like Francisco.”

“The four of them have met boys that are just beautiful. I couldn’t ask for better, so he has answered all my prayers,” she said.

The pontiff left Fatima on Saturday afternoon after a stay of less than 24 hours. From his popemobile he saluted thousands of people lining the streets who cheered, waved flags and shouted “Viva o Papa!”

Francisco and Jacinta, aged 9 and 7, and their 10-year-old cousin, Lucia, reported that on March 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary made the first of a half-dozen appearances to them while they grazed their sheep. They said she confided in them three secrets — foretelling apocalyptic visions of hell, war, communism and the death of a pope — and urged them to pray for peace and a conversion from sin.

At the time, Europe was in the throes of World War I, and the Portuguese church was suffering under anti-clerical laws from the republican government that had forced many bishops and priests into exile.

“Our Lady foretold, and warned us about, a way of life that is godless and indeed profanes God in his creatures,” Francis said in his homily. “Such a life, frequently proposed and imposed, risks leading to hell.”

He urged Catholics today to use the example of the Marto siblings and draw strength from God, even when adversity strikes. The children had been threatened by local civil authorities with death by boiling oil if they didn’t recant their story. But they held fast and eventually the church recognized the apparitions as authentic in 1930.

“We can take as our examples Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta, whom the Virgin Mary introduced into the immense ocean of God’s light and taught to adore him,” he said. “That was the source of their strength in overcoming opposition and suffering.”

The Martos are now the youngest-ever saints who didn’t die as martyrs.

Before the Mass, Francis prayed at the tombs of each of the Fatima visionaries. The Marto siblings died two years after the visions during Europe’s Spanish flu pandemic. Lucia is on track for possible beatification, but her process couldn’t start until after her 2005 death.

At the end of the Mass, Francis offered a special greeting to the many faithful who flock to Fatima in hopes of healing.

Participating in the offertory procession Saturday were Joao Baptista and his wife, Lucila Yurie, of Brazil. They were with their son, Lucas, whose medically inexplicable healing was the “miracle” needed for the Marto siblings to be declared saints. Lucas and the pope embraced.

The boy, aged 5 at the time, had fallen 6.5 meters (21 feet) from a window in 2013 and suffered severe head trauma. His doctors said he would be severely mentally disabled or in a vegetative state if he even survived. The boy not only survived but has no signs of any after-effects.

“We thank God for Lucas’ cure. We know in all faith from our heart that this miracle was obtained with the help of the little shepherd children Francisco and Jacinta,” Baptista told reporters earlier.

In 2000, Pope John Paul II beatified the Marto siblings during a Mass at Fatima and used the occasion of the new millennium to reveal the third “secret” that the children reported they had received from the Madonna. The text, written by Lucia, had been kept in a sealed envelope inside the Vatican for decades, with no pope daring to reveal it because of its terrifying contents: a “bishop dressed in white” — the pope — on his knees at the foot of a cross, killed in a hail of bullets and arrows, along with other bishops, priests and various lay Catholics.

The message featured an angel crying out “Penance, penance, penance!”

John Paul II, now St. John Paul, credited the Virgin Mary with saving his life in an assassination attempt in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981 — the same date of the first Fatima vision. One of the bullets fired at him rests in the crown of the statue of the Virgin at the Fatima shrine.

The impending canonization of the children had led to speculation that a fourth “secret” remained, but the Vatican says there are no more secrets related to the Fatima revelations. </s> FATIMA, Portugal — Pope Francis added two Portuguese shepherd children to the roster of Catholic saints Saturday, honoring young siblings whose reported visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago turned the Portuguese farm town of Fatima into one of the world’s most important Catholic shrines.

Francis proclaimed Francisco and Jacinta Marto saints at the start of Mass marking the centenary of their visions. A half-million people watched in the vast square in front of the shrine’s basilica, the Vatican said, citing Portuguese authorities. Many had spent days at Fatima in quiet prayer, reciting rosaries before a statue of the Madonna. They clapped as soon as Francis read the proclamation aloud.

“It is amazing, it is like an answer to prayer because I felt that always they would be canonized,” said Agnes Walsh from Killarney, Ireland. She said she prayed to Francisco Marto for 20 years, hoping her four daughters would meet “nice boys like Francisco.” “The four of them have met boys that are just beautiful I couldn’t ask for better, so he has answered all my prayers,” she said.

Francisco and Jacinta, aged 9 and 7, and their 10-year-old cousin, Lucia, reported that on March 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary made the first of a half-dozen appearances to them here while they grazed their sheep. They said she confided in them three secrets — foretelling apocalyptic visions of hell, war, communism and the death of a pope — and urged them to pray for peace and a conversion away from sin.

At the time, Europe was in the throes of World War I, and the Portuguese church was suffering under anti-clerical laws from the republican government that had forced many bishops and priests into exile.

“Our Lady foretold, and warned us about, a way of life that is godless and indeed profanes God in his creatures,” Francis said in his homily. “Such a life, frequently proposed and imposed, risks leading to hell.”

He urged Catholics today to use the example of the Marto siblings and draw strength from God, even when adversity strikes. The children had been threatened by local civil authorities with death by boiling oil if they didn’t recant their story. But they held fast and eventually the church recognized the apparitions as authentic in 1930.

“We can take as our examples Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta, whom the Virgin Mary introduced into the immense ocean of God’s light and taught to adore him,” he said. “That was the source of their strength in overcoming opposition and suffering.”

The Martos are now the youngest-ever saints who didn’t die as martyrs.

Before the Mass, Francis prayed at the tombs of each of the Fatima visionaries. The Marto siblings died two years after the visions during Europe’s Spanish flu pandemic. Lucia is on track for possible beatification, but her process couldn’t start until after her 2005 death.

At the end of the Mass, Francis was to offer a special greeting to the many faithful who flock to Fatima in hopes of healing. Many toss wax body parts — hands, hearts, livers and limbs — into a giant fire pit at the shrine as an offering.

Participating in the offertory procession Saturday were Joao Baptista and his wife, Lucila Yurie, of Brazil. They were with their son, Lucas, whose medically inexplicable healing was the “miracle” needed for the Marto siblings to be declared saints.

The boy, aged 5 at the time, had fallen 6.5 meters (21 feet) from a window in 2013 and suffered such severe head trauma that his doctors said he would be severely mentally disabled or in a vegetative state if he even survived. The boy not only survived but has no signs of any after-effects.

“We thank God for Lucas’ cure and we know in all faith from our heart that this miracle was obtained with the help of the little shepherd children Francisco and Jacinta,” Baptista told reporters earlier as the family broke their silence to reveal details of the case.

In 2000, St. John Paul II beatified the Marto siblings during a Mass at Fatima and used the occasion of the new millennium to reveal the third “secret” that the children reported they had received from the Madonna. The text, written by Lucia, had been kept in a sealed envelope inside the Vatican for decades, with no pope daring to reveal it because of its terrifying contents: a “bishop dressed in white” — the pope — on his knees at the foot of a cross, killed in a hail of bullets and arrows, along with other bishops, priests and various lay Catholics.

The message featured an angel crying out “penance, penance, penance!”

The impending canonization of the children had led to speculation that a fourth “secret” remained, but the Vatican has insisted there are no more secrets related to the Fatima revelations. </s> FATIMA, Portugal — Pope Francis added two Portuguese shepherd children to the roster of Catholic saints Saturday, honoring young siblings whose reported visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago turned the Portuguese farm town of Fatima into one of the world’s most important Catholic shrines.

Francis proclaimed Francisco and Jacinta Marto saints at the start of Mass marking the centenary of their visions. A half-million people watched in the vast square in front of the shrine’s basilica, the Vatican said, citing Portuguese authorities. Many had spent days at Fatima in quiet prayer, reciting rosaries before a statue of the Madonna. They clapped as soon as Francis read the proclamation aloud.

“It is amazing, it is like an answer to prayer because I felt that always they would be canonized,” said Agnes Walsh from Killarney, Ireland. She said she prayed to Francisco Marto for 20 years, hoping her four daughters would meet “nice boys like Francisco.” “The four of them have met boys that are just beautiful I couldn’t ask for better, so he has answered all my prayers,” she said.

Francisco and Jacinta, aged 9 and 7, and their 10-year-old cousin, Lucia, reported that on March 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary made the first of a half-dozen appearances to them here while they grazed their sheep. They said she confided in them three secrets — foretelling apocalyptic visions of hell, war, communism and the death of a pope — and urged them to pray for peace and a conversion away from sin.

At the time, Europe was in the throes of World War I, and the Portuguese church was suffering under anti-clerical laws from the republican government that had forced many bishops and priests into exile.

“Our Lady foretold, and warned us about, a way of life that is godless and indeed profanes God in his creatures,” Francis said in his homily. “Such a life, frequently proposed and imposed, risks leading to hell.”

He urged Catholics today to use the example of the Marto siblings and draw strength from God, even when adversity strikes. The children had been threatened by local civil authorities with death by boiling oil if they didn’t recant their story. But they held fast and eventually the church recognized the apparitions as authentic in 1930.

“We can take as our examples Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta, whom the Virgin Mary introduced into the immense ocean of God’s light and taught to adore him,” he said. “That was the source of their strength in overcoming opposition and suffering.”

The Martos are now the youngest-ever saints who didn’t die as martyrs.

Before the Mass, Francis prayed at the tombs of each of the Fatima visionaries. The Marto siblings died two years after the visions during Europe’s Spanish flu pandemic. Lucia is on track for possible beatification, but her process couldn’t start until after her 2005 death.

At the end of the Mass, Francis was to offer a special greeting to the many faithful who flock to Fatima in hopes of healing. Many toss wax body parts — hands, hearts, livers and limbs — into a giant fire pit at the shrine as an offering.

Participating in the offertory procession Saturday were Joao Baptista and his wife, Lucila Yurie, of Brazil. They were with their son, Lucas, whose medically inexplicable healing was the “miracle” needed for the Marto siblings to be declared saints.

The boy, aged 5 at the time, had fallen about 21 feet from a window in 2013 and suffered such severe head trauma that his doctors said he would be severely mentally disabled or in a vegetative state if he even survived. The boy not only survived but has no signs of any after-effects.

“We thank God for Lucas’ cure and we know in all faith from our heart that this miracle was obtained with the help of the little shepherd children Francisco and Jacinta,” Baptista told reporters earlier as the family broke their silence to reveal details of the case.

In 2000, St. John Paul II beatified the Marto siblings during a Mass at Fatima and used the occasion of the new millennium to reveal the third “secret” that the children reported they had received from the Madonna. The text, written by Lucia, had been kept in a sealed envelope inside the Vatican for decades, with no pope daring to reveal it because of its terrifying contents: a “bishop dressed in white” — the pope — on his knees at the foot of a cross, killed in a hail of bullets and arrows, along with other bishops, priests and various lay Catholics.

The message featured an angel crying out “penance, penance, penance!”

The impending canonization of the children had led to speculation that a fourth “secret” remained, but the Vatican has insisted there are no more secrets related to the Fatima revelations.
Catholics in Portugal converge in a shrine in Fatima for a visit by Pope Francis.