The 'little shepherds' of
Fatima, Francisco and Giacinta, will be made saints on May 13,
Pope Francis announced at a consistory Thursday, setting the
date for around 30 canonisations.
On May 13 Francis will travel to Fatima and will oversee the
canonisation ritual, the Vatican said.
The pontiff held the consistory for cardinals to vote on
several causes for canonization, including the two children who
claimed to see several visions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima,
Portugal, in 1917.
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; Cristbal, Antonio, and Juan, of
Mexico, young martyrs; Faustino Mguez, 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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