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LISBON : Sister Lucia, the last survivor of the three shepherd children to whom the Virgin Mary is said to have made a series of apparitions in 1917, has died of old age, state television RTP reported Sunday.

Sister Lucia Marto, the last of three children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in a series of 1917 apparitions in the town of Fatima, has died, Portuguese media reported. She was 97. Sister Lucia, a Roman Catholic nun, had been ill for the past three months and died Sunday at the Convent of Carmelitas in Coimbra, 190 kilometers (120 miles) north of Lisbon, TSF radio reported, citing family sources. Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes called Lucia's death "very emotional news." Lucia and two of her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco, said in 1917 that the Virgin Mary...

LISBON (AFP) - Sister Lucia, the last survivor of the three shepherd children to whom the Virgin Mary is said to have made a series of apparitions in 1917, has died of old age, state television RTP reported. She was 97. She had lived in virtual isolation since 1948 in an old convent in the central Portuguese city of Coimbra that houses the order of the Carmelita Sisters where she dedicated her life to prayer and meditation. Named Lucia de Jesus dos Santos when she was born on March 22, 1907, in recent years she suffered from blindness and deafness....

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal has declared Tuesday a day of mourning and politicians have cut back election campaigning to mark the death of Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, the last of three children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary at Fatima. Dos Santos, who as a child in 1917 described visions which, decades later, the Catholic Church said foretold the attempt to kill Pope John Paul in 1981, died aged 97 on Sunday at her Carmelite convent in Coimbra, 150 km (95 miles) north of Lisbon. She is to be buried at the convent on Tuesday and her...

LISBON, PORTUGAL - Sister Lucia Marto, the last of three children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in a series of 1917 apparitions in the town of Fatima, has died, Portuguese media reported. She was 97. Sister Lucia, a Roman Catholic nun, had been ill for the past three months and died Sunday at the Convent of Carmelitas in Coimbra, 120 miles north of Lisbon, TSF radio reported, citing family sources. Lucia and two of her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco, said in 1917 that the Virgin Mary had been appearing to them once a month and predicting...

Sister Lucia Marto, the last of three children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in a series of 1917 apparitions, has died, Portuguese media reported today. She was 97.

I just heard...Sister Lucia passed away! I can't find anything online yet, however...

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - The Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II wished the hospitalized pontiff a speedy recovery Thursday, but also urged him to tell the world that its end is near — the latest cryptic message from the mysterious man behind the 1981 attack. Mehmet Ali Agca was extradited to Turkey in 2000 after serving almost 20 years in Italy for the 1981 shooting of the pope. Agca, who is serving a prison sentence in Turkey in a murder and two robberies committed in 1979, has given conflicting reasons for the attack on the pope, and his motives...

Actor Mel Gibson held a secret meeting with one of the famous visionaries of Fatima, Sister Lucia of Portugal. Sister Lucia, now 98 years of age, is a cloistered nun who as a child saw and spoke with the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. Her visions and those of her two childhood friends, both since passed away, were both prophetic and apocalyptic. The Catholic Church accepted the visions as authentic.

It can finally be told that Mel Gibson met and talked with Sister Lucia of Fatima at the Convent in Coimbra, Portugal.During lent of 2004 Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of Christ" was making news all over the world. From our knowledge of Carmelite Convents, we knew that the Carmelites could not leave the convent and see the film, which we thought would be a great thing for preparation for Good Friday and Easter. But how could we get them the film since it was not yet out on DVD and the convent in Coimbra does not have a TV,...

Fatima Controversy ContinuesLetter to The Universeby John VennariOne of the most frustrating aspects of reporting on the recent events at Fatima is having to deal with those who publicly claim that our reports are not true. It is a claim made by those who have no first-hand knowledge. The Universe, a British Catholic weekly, published on the front page of its November 7 edition, a fairly accurate update on recent events in Fatima.This was followed by published Letters to the Editor from individuals such as Britain’s Timothy Tindale- Robertson, who took The Universe to task for publishing the story. In...

When the Supreme Court extended an injunction against the enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), it also guaranteed the access by innocent children to on-line porn. Internet pornographers were handed a victory and the opportunity to corrupt American youth with no fines or consequences. In answer to the decision, America Needs Fatima is launching a new emergency campaign called Protect Kids from Porn. Starting in early September, the campaign has as its immediate goal the distribution of tens of thousands of protest flyers aimed toward protecting society’s most vulnerable members. Each brochure has two petitions, one addressed to...

Students at St. Mary's College in Orchard Lake, Michigan, warmly welcomed Our Lady of Fatima's statue to their campus on November 23. Escorted by members of TFP Student Action, this beautiful statue made a profound impression on those who saw her. It is one of many pilgrim statues traveling the country thanks to the America Needs Fatima campaign, a project of the American TFP that promotes devotion to Mary reaching hundreds of thousands every year. "The ambience in the conference room changed as soon as Our Lady arrived. I never saw anything like it," remarked student Benjamin Beckett, who helped...

Groundbreaking New Fatima Documentary to Air Nationwide on December 8 "Heaven's Key to Peace", a new documentary produced by the Fatima Center, will air across North America on the PAX-TV network (U.S.A) and Vision TV (Canada), and via cable and satellite, on December 8, 2004. The date was chosen as it marks the 150th Anniversary of Blessed Pius IX's proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.  The program will air twice on PAX network, in the morning and evening. The times are as follows: 12:00 Noon (Eastern/Pacific), - 11:00 a.m. (Central/Mountain) and 12:00 midnight (Eastern/Pacific)...

(Updated section starts with "Enemies of Ecumenism are Enemies of Fatima?" subheading) The last days of September saw a controversy erupt at Portugal’s Fatima Shrine. It was the direct result of protests of concerned Catholics against the new interreligious orientation now at Fatima. Correio da manhã, the second largest newspaper in Portugal, caused a sensation when it splashed on its September 29 front page, “Vatican is shocked with Fatima”. According to the newspaper, the Vatican “censured the prayer of the Dalai Lama and that of the Hindu priest in the Shrine,” and instructed the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (PEC) to replace...

"Conversion of Russia" Update Commie Thug "Elected" in Belarus As "ex-communist" Vladimir ("the practicing Christian") Putin steadily consolidates a neo-Stalinist dictatorship in Russia, his fellow "ex-communist" dictator, Aleksandr Lukashenko, does the same in neighboring Belarus. On October 19, 2004 The New York Times reported that according to a "constitutional referendum" the people of Belarus have "voted" to abolish the limit of two five-year terms on the presidency so that Lukashenko can remain in power indefinitely. According to Lukashenko’s "election commission," an astounding 77% of the Belarus electorate "voted" to abolish the term limits. But, as with the original "democratic election"...

Next Pope to be Portuguese? While the Portuguese Church has been discreet over the topic over who will succeed Pope John Paul II, it has become increasingly evident that Lisbon Cardinal D. José da Cruz Policarpo has a growing number of supporters who believe he should be Pope number 263, it was revealed this week by the Correio da Manhã. The latest example of the 68-year old Lisbon Bishop’s growing favouritism comes from the French magazine Paris-Match, which, among 14 candidates, highlight six, one of them being D. José Policarpo. In addition, the US publication, The National Catholic Reporter, has...

That Hindu pilgrims were granted use of the Little Chapel of the Apparitions at Fatima to offer the Blessed Mother the worship accorded to their goddesses has angered and astounded some Catholics. The response is understandable, if far from universal, and the fact that so few of the faithful have been alarmed by this blasphemy is a measure of how the sin of human respect has come to be regarded as a virtue in the catalogue of ecumenism. May 5 2004: Hindu "priest" prays pagan prayer at Catholic altar. This is a desecration, no matter how the present authorities at...

The Bishop of Leiria-Fátima, D. Serafim Ferreira e Silva, has this week admitted to the existence of “enemies” of Fátima, saying many emanate from within the Catholic Church. Speaking at a press conference held at the Sanctuary, the Bishop preferred not to identify these “enemies”, saying only that some of them are involved in “science or pseudo-science”. He added he has personal instructions from the Pope to promote interfaith dialogue. The Bishop used the conference to highlight the fact that the Fátima Sanctuary is open to all, including the “Dalai Lama or an agnostic, and to those who believe and...

A newspaper report published this week states that the Vatican is one step away from assuming full control of Portugal’s holiest religious site. While no official measures have been taken, the Correio da Manhã (CM) newspaper on Wednesday alleges the Vatican’s disapproval of the Dalai Lama and a Hindu priest praying at the Fátima Sanctuary on two separate occasions to be at the centre of Rome’s reported intentions for Fátima. But Portuguese clergymen have been swift in their response to these reports, arguing either that they are false, or that the Vatican gave its blessing for the interfaith gatherings, or...