John Paul to Entrust Third Millennium To Our Lady of Fatima

Pope John Paul II will entrust the Third Millennium to Our Lady of Fatima on October 8 according to a March 22 statement by Secretary General of the Vatican Jubilee Committee Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe. The statue of Our Lady of Fatima from the Chapel of the Apparitions at the Fatima sanctuary in Portugal will be brought to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome for the special event. Bishops from around who will be in Rome for the Jubilee Year are expected to participate in the entrustment that will be made at the end of an October 8 Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Archbishop Sepe said on Vatican Radio that he thought the presence of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima in St. Peter’s and the entrustment ceremony “will be one of the most moving Marian events of the whole Jubilee.” The archbishop noted that the statue will arrive in Rome a few days before the ceremony “so that all the faithful who wish to venerate her may be able to do so,” he said.

Archbishop Sepe confirmed that Pope John Paul had accepted the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima’s invitation to beatify Venerables Jacinta and Francisco Marto at the Fatima sanctuary on May 13.