The statue of Our Lady of Fatima on pilgrimage to Ukraine: from Portugal the sacred effigy has arrived in Lviv where it will remain for a month. The initiative was commissioned by Msgr. Ihor Vozniak, archbishop and metropolitan of the Greek-Catholic Church of Lviv. The commitment to Ukraine involves the entire Portuguese Church as highlighted by Cardinal Manuel Clemente do Nascimento, patriarch of Lisbon, and by Cardinal Antonio Marto, bishop of Leiria-Fatima. The prelates urged the faithful of the country to welcome and assist refugees fleeing from war which is devastating the entire Ukrainian nation.
Our Lady of Fatima in Ukraine
In the celebration before leaving for Ukraine, Father Joaquim Ganhão, director of the liturgy department of Fatima, highlighted that "war is not answered with war. Evil is not answered with evil, hate is not answered with hatred. We must open the doors and recognize that the other is not our enemy, he is not our rival. He is our brother, with whom we have to build history. Building peace is demanding work. Let us pray for the brothers who suffer most, let us pray for the end of the war in Ukraine and everywhere, for so many innocent victims ”.
The shrine of Fatima welcomes refugees from war
The shrine of Fatima will temporarily accommodate 35 refugees from Ukraine, mainly women and children, at the request of the municipality of Ourém and the Portuguese Greek-Catholic community. The spiritual assistants, the Basilian monks who reside and collaborate in Cova da Iria, where the sanctuary is located, are involved in the front line. For the rector of the secretariat of the Blessed Virgin in Fatima, Father Carlos Cabeñinas, “pray for medium-high pace it is the mission of the sanctuary of Fatima, from here the daily prayers for the end of the war in Ukraine and the conversion of Russia arise ”.
The sacred effigy of Our Lady
What arrived in Ukraine is image no. 13 of Our Lady of Fatima, sculpted in 1920 by José Ferreira Tedin according to the instructions given to him by the servant of God, Sister Lucia de Jesus. During the most important celebrations, this statue is crowned with a golden crown, in the center of which is the bullet that hit John Paul II during the attack of May 13, 1981 in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The statues of the Virgin of Fatima have a particular history. In 1945, a West Berlin parish priest suggested that a statue of Our Lady of Fatima visit all European capitals and the bishoprics of Europe as far as the Russian border. Since then the statue has visited 64 countries, some even several times, bringing messages of peace and love. Subsequently, to satisfy the numerous requests from all over the world, numerous other copies of the first statue were made: the current one is precisely the thirteenth.
