Brazil’s national shrine attracts record number of pilgrims

January 11, 2013 - Regarded as one of Catholicism’s most visited sites outside the Vatican, Brazil’s National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida near Sao Paulo, attracted over 11 million pilgrims last year, breaking all previous records. According to the Brazilian of Bishops Conference, over 11.1 million people visited the Marian shrine in 2012, up from 10.9 million in 2011 and 10.3 million in 2010. The Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida, the patroness of Brazil, consistently ranks as a top destination for world pilgrims. Outside Rome, only the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City surpasses those numbers with an estimated 20 million visitors. Meanwhile the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes sees approximately 6 million visitors per year. The shrine dedicated to Brazil’s patroness, registered its highest flow of pilgrims in September with over a million. According to Redemptorist priest Fr. Valdivino Guimarães, the prefect of the sanctuary, the reasons behind huge masses of pilgrims of people visiting the shrine are the centre’s facilities, media support from radio, television and the shrine’s magazine, but especially because of the Brazilians great devotion to the Virgin Mary. The bishops of Brazil are in consultation with the bishop of Leiria-Fátima, in Portugal, home to the famous Marian shrine of Fatima. The bishops are preparing for two important anniversaries in 2017 - that of the 300 years of the discovery of the statue of Our Lady of Aparecida in the Paraiba River and the 100 years of first apparition of the Virgin of Fatima to the three shepherd children. Both Portugal and Brazil have a common language Portuguese.