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The International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Fatima will tour Ukraine on a mission of peace and reconciliation.
This is an initiative of Archbishop of Lviv Ihor Vozniak of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
"In times of trouble we find refuge in our Mother. We want to beg her for peace,” said the rector of the Fatima Shrine during a Holy Mass for the war-torn Ukraine.
Fr. Carlos Cabecinhas pointed out that praying for peace is the mission of Fatima. Each day, prayers for the end of the war and the conversion of Russia are offered at the Shrine.
Father Rector stressed also that the pilgrimage of the statue will help Ukrainians strengthen their hope and trust in God.
The International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Fatima departs from Lisbon, Portugal, for Krakow, Poland, to be received and transported to Ukraine by a community of Greek Catholics from Lviv.
In addition to daily prayers, the Shrine of Fatima, through Caritas Portugal, has offered financial assistance to Ukraine and welcomed 35 refugees, mostly women and children. In collaboration with the local authorities, it has pledged to help integrate the refugees and has offered support in finding jobs and schools for the children as well as to have appropriate documents issued.
The statue which is to visit Ukraine is the 13th replica of the statute of Our Lady Fatima created on Sr. Lucia’s orders.
The first Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Fatima was dedicated in 1947. Ever since, it has travelled the entire world, conveying the message of peace and love. The idea of a pilgrimage of the image of the Virgin Mary developed right after World War II, when a parish priest in Berlin proposed that the statue of Our Lady of Fatima visit all European capitals and cities which are diocesan headquarters.
After more than 50 years of pilgrimage, during which the statue visited 64 countries on all continents (some of them several times), the Shrine authorities decided that it should leave Fatima less often, solely in exceptional cases. But in response to numerous requests from all over the world to be visited by the Fatima image of Our Lady, copies of the first pilgrim statue were made. Today, the Shrine has 13 such statues.
