RNA - The Argentinian pontiff, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, canonized the shepherd siblings at a huge gathering of some half a million believers who were celebrating a centenary marking the apparition of the Virgin Mary at Fatima's Sanctuary in a civil parish in the municipality of Ourem in central Portugal, on Saturday.
On May 13, 1917, Francisco Marto, aged 9, her sister Jacinta, aged 7, and their 10-year-old cousin Lúcia Santos, reported that Madonna made the first of a half-dozen appearances to them, from May to October, in a place that was later known as Fatima's Sanctuary, while they were grazing their sheep.
The children, impoverished and barely literate, further told their parents and the locals that she shared three secrets with them, foretelling the outbreak of the Second World War, the fall of Communism and the death of a pope, urging them to pray for peace and a conversion to God and prayer. The report of the vision soon circled around and beyond their tiny town and turned the site into a major pilgrimage place.
Francisco and her sister Jacinta died young at the ages of 10 and 9, respectively, in the Spanish Influenza epidemic that swept through Europe at the end of the Great War, but Lucia lived on until 2005, becoming a nun and during her long life met several popes, including the late John Paul II.
"We declare the blissful Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto saints. We register them on the list of saints, declaring that they must be venerated as such by the Church," said Pope Francis at the event.
The pontiff also urged people to follow the example of the Marto siblings in their life, seeking God and turning away from sin.
"Our Lady foretold, and warned us about, a way of life that is godless and indeed profanes God in his creatures. Such a life, frequently proposed and imposed, risks leading to hell," further advised the pope in his homily.
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