Posted on 10/12/2007 2:47:23 PM PDT by fishhound
Thousands of pilgrims have flocked to a ceremony in Portugal to consecrate one of the world's biggest churches.
The Church of the Holy Trinity is at the shrine of Fatima, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three shepherd children in 1917.
The low, oval, white building - which cost 60m euros (£42m) to build - can accommodate nearly 9,000 worshippers and has no internal columns.
Pope Benedict XVI will give a televised address to the congregation on Sunday.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, and about 40 other cardinals and bishops from around the world attended Friday's opening ceremony.
The site, 113km (70 miles) north of the Portuguese capital Lisbon, took three years to build and is said to be the world's fourth biggest church.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are expected to visit during the weekend's celebrations.
Designed by Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis, it has 13 doors, said to represent Christ's last supper with the 12 apostles.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
ping
No doubt a pre-emptive move to block the construction of a cluster of mosques...
We were there a few years ago. I recall that the square in front of the church is larger than the one at St. Peters in the vatican.
Thank you!
It is very unfortunate that the new shrine looks like a roach motel.
But I keep getting letters in the mail telling me how AMERICA needs Fatima. What gives?
I didn’t see that particular description on the site, but admittedly I didn’t read every word, either.
Amen.
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