Bulletins
October 13, 2013
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The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima is in Vatican City these days at the request of Pope Francis for the occasion of yesterday's global Rosary and Consecration of the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as well as the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, which is today, October 13, the 96th anniversary of the last apparition of Our Lord's Mother to three Portuguese children, Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, for which occasion Our Lady had promised a miracle that would be seen by more than just her three young friends. It has come to be known as "The Miracle of the Sun".
With tens of thousands of people in attendance, after a period of rain, the dark clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky. It was said to be significantly duller than normal, and to cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds. The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth in a zigzag pattern. The journalist Avelino de Almeida of O Século, which at the time Portugal's was most influential newspaper and both pro-government and avowedly anti- clerical, reported the following: "Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bare-headed, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws - the sun 'danced' according to the typical expression of the people."
If your interest is peeked, please learn more about Our Lady of Fatima and visit. The website for the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima is http://www.santuario-fatima.pt and the Lisbon Airport is only 63 miles away. In the meantime, pray the Rosary.
God bless you.
Fr. Christopher J. Pollard
P.S. Last week I wondered out loud if La Repubblica had given an accurate rendering of Eugenio Scalfari's interview with Pope Francis. A few days ago the Vatican Press Office stated that the interview was "either missing some key details or conflating various moments or events recounted during the oral interview," as Scalfari "did not tape his interview with Pope Francis, nor did he take notes, so the text was an after-the-fact reconstruction."
