Pope Francis will hold a consistory
on April 20 for cardinals to vote on several causes for
canonization, including two children who claimed to see several
visions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, the
Vatican said on Tuesday.
The pair, Francesco Marto and Jacinto Marto, died before they
reached adulthood.
Their cousin, Lucia Santos, who also said she witnessed the
apparitions, became a nun and lived to the age of 97.
The shepherd children said the Madonna revealed three secrets
to them, the last of which was only made public in 2000.
The secrets were interpreted as relating to Hell, World War I
and World War II, and the assassination attempt on Pope John
Paul II in 1981.
The cause of Lucia Santos, who died in 2005, is on the path
towards beatification.
The other canonization causes set for approval are:
Martyrs of Natal, Brazil: Andrea de Soveral, Ambrogio Francesco
Ferro, diocesan priests, along with Matteo Moreira, a layman,
and 27 companions, martyrs; Cristóbal, Antonio, and Juan, of
Mexico, young martyrs; Faustino Míguez, Spanish Piarist priest,
and founder of the Calasanzian Institute of the Daughters of the
Divine Shepherdess; Angelo da Acri, Italian professed priest of
the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor.
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