· Decree promulgated for the canonization of the shepherds of Fatima ·
Francisco and Jacinta Marta, two visionaries of Our Lady at Fatima, are to be canonized. During an audience with the Prefect of the Congregation of Saints on Thursday morning, 23 March, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the Decree regarding the miracle attributed to the two shepherds.
Thus opens the path to their canonization, after John Paul II beatified them on 13 May 2000, as he celebrated Mass in the Marian Shrine built on the site where the two children (along with their cousin, Lúcia de Jesus Rosa dos Santos, whose diocesan process of beatification concluded in February) witnessed the apparitions of the Virgin which took place between 17 May and 17 October 1917.
The decision by the Pontiff, who will visit Fatima on 12-13 May, thus falls during the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions.
