On the 103rd anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin Mary to three shepherds in this small Portuguese town of Fatima, Pope Francis asked Catholics today to pray to Our Lady of Fatima for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. “In our prayers we ask God, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for peace for the world, the end of the pandemic, the spirit of penance and our conversion,” the Holy Father said at the end of his weekly Wednesday general audience. He encouraged everyone to “know and follow the example of the Virgin Mary. To this end, let us try to live this month with a more intense and faithful daily prayer, in particular by reciting the rosary, as the Church recommends, thus fulfilling a desire repeatedly expressed in Fatima by Our Lady.”
Our Lady of Fatima has held a special place in the hearts of the last three popes who in different ways have shown their attention and devotion to the Portuguese apparitions, that the Church declares first occurred May 13, 1917. Yet no pope’s connection can match that of St. John Paul II, who believed he was saved by Our Lady of Fatima from the assassination attempt in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981. Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turk, shot Pope John Paul at close range as the pope was greeting a crowd. Two bullets pierced the pope’s abdomen, but no major organs were struck; a bullet had missed his heart and aorta by a few inches. St. John Paul would later say, “It was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path.”
Thought for the Day: Mary is perfectly honored when people generously imitate her response “Let it be done to me as you say.” (Luke 1:38)
