Benedict XVI will not go to Fatima in October 2007 to preside over the closing ceremony of the celebrations marking the 90th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin to three young shepherds. As reported by the Portuguese Catholic press agency Ecclesia, it was the Secretary of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference, Father Carlos Azevedo, who announced at the end of the meeting of the permanent Council that the Pope would not be coming, acknowledging receipt of a communication to this effect from the Holy See’s Secretariat of State. Benedict XVI had been invited to Fatima by the Portuguese bishops in recent months. The motivation given by the Holy See is linked to the “excessive number of commitments on the Pope’s agenda”, which have forced Benedict XVI to reduce his planned journeys. Nonetheless, the Pope confirmed he would send a legate to represent him at the commemorations in October and expressed his wish to make a visit to Fatima on some future occasion. During the celebrations in October, the inauguration of a new church dedicated to the Holy Trinity is also planned.
