The Virgin, the People, the Pope: Father Lombardi Editorial
(14 May 10 –RV) As the procession [of our Lady of Fatima – ed]passed through the immense crowd gathered on the esplanade of Fatima, I watched the faces illuminated by the flickering flames of candles, hundreds of thousands of ordinary people, men and women, young, old, mothers with their children .... Expressive, intense, faces marked by pain of life’s trials; innocent, sincere , deeply emotional faces, tears and smiles. The people, the People of God are here: throughout the long night, in vigil, and then throughout the day, in spite of rain, wind, sun. They came from every corner of Portugal and Europe, by any available means - by air, by car, on foot – carrying their secret prayer in their hearts, holding the candle in their hands, Our Lady’s beloved song on their lips".
Who called them? Who convoked them? Certainly not the media, neither the expert organisers, nor the bishops, not even the Pope. We know that these people were called here by a "small lady of light" who appeared to three shepherd children in this remote and insignificant place. Nearly a hundred years have passed and the call has not lost its strength. And over the last 40 years, five times a Pope from Rome has come here too on the fateful date of May 13th.
He did not want to deny the power of this call and so he too became a pilgrim with the People of God, that were entrusted to him. He too came to say “I love”, to pray and do penance for the conversion and salvation of all peoples, and to commend to God their pain and anguish, joys and hopes. As Pope Benedict said en route to Fatima, the Pope "stands for the church," where he is, there is the Church and where the Church is, there he too is. And at Fatima Mary said, right from the beginning, to pray with the Pope and for the Pope for the life of the world. In these past days, we felt and lived this prayer with a constantly renewed surprise, with deep emotion and joy, with great hope.
Despite the evidence - internal and external - the Church is alive and on the move, accompanied by the Holy Spirit.
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