MORE than 250,000 pilgrims packed the Catholic shrine of Fatima yesterday to mark the 80th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin Mary to three peasant children.
In spring sunshine, the huge square in front of the sanctuary was transformed into a sea of white handkerchiefs as the faithful gave the traditional greeting to the statue of the Virgin as it was paraded before them.
Many believe the Virgin Mary appeared to the three shepherd children at midday on May 13th, 1917, the first of five-monthly apparitions during which she delivered three prophecies. One of the three predictions has never been revealed.
Fatima is one of the most revered Catholic sites and the annual celebrations between May and October draw thousands of pilgrims from the US, Japan, and eastern Europe, particularly Poland.
Pope John Paul II is known for his devotion to the Virgin who he believes intervened to save him from an assassination attempt on May 13th, 1981, when he was shot and seriously wounded by a Turkish gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca. He has visited the shrine at Fatima twice, in 1982 and again in 1991 when gave thanks for the fall of communism in eastern Europe.
According to the writings of Sister Lucia, the sole surviving visionary, two of the Virgin's prophecies concerned the end of the first World War and the collapse of communism.
But the so-called "third secret of Fatima" has never been revealed by the Catholic hierarchy stirring speculation that it alluded to some future catastrophe. However, a senior Vatican official said on a visit to Portugal last year that it contained nothing alarming.
While most pilgrims arrive in Fatima, 80 miles north of Lisbon, by bus or car, some Portuguese make the trip on foot as a sign of particular devotion or to fulfil a promise. Some even complete the final stretch on their knees along a special pathway.
"I had a difficult birth and I promised the Virgin Mary that I would come to Fatima if my son lived," Ms Catia Solange (17) said as she edged her way towards the shrine on her knees carrying her four-month-old baby.
Ms Amelia de Conceicao (78) said she had been coming to the shrine since she was 15 and that her father had been present at the last of the apparitions on October 15th, 1917, when the sun "danced" in the sky in the "miracle of the sun".
Among those present yesterday was the Nobel Peace laureate, Dr Carlos Ximenes Belo, a bishop in East Timor, the troubled former Portuguese Pacific colony which has been occupied by Indonesia since 1976. Irish travel agents say hundreds of Irish people have travelled to Portugal to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Fatima appearances. A number of Irish priests also concelebrated the open-air - Mass addressed by the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Meisner.