The following is the text of the Message of the Holy Father Francis for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2019, to be held this coming September 29, on the theme: “It is not just about migrants”:
Message of the Holy Father
It is not just about migrants
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
WHY OUR LADY OF FATIMA STATUES ARE SOMETIMES DEPICTED WITH THREE DOVES?
News headlines of late have been dominated by rumblings between the United States and Iran, capped by President Donald Trump taking to Twitter to state emphatically, “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran.”
In such moments of global tension, the Vatican typically aspires to play the role of a reconciler and peacemaker. Should they wish to get involved now, they would find themselves straddling a conflict between a Western, majority-Christian nation on one side, and a Middle Eastern majority-Muslim state on the other.
Perhaps there is no prayer uttered more often by Christians than the Our Father. And there is good reason for this frequency, because Jesus himself taught it to his disciples when they asked him how they were to pray (see Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4).
From the early days of the church, the Lord's Prayer has occupied a special place in the life of Christians. The second-century Didache, one of the earliest Christian documents outside the New Testament, commanded that the Our Father should be said by Christians three times a day.
Pope Francis is set to visit his third Eastern Orthodox-majority country in the space of a month at the beginning of June, traveling to Romania just weeks after visiting Bulgaria and North Macedonia.
Beyond its ecumenical dimension, the May 31-June 2 voyage will also have the pontiff spend time with a diverse minority Catholic community, which is split between a primarily immigrant Latin rite population and the Romanian Greek Catholic Church.
In the ancient world, people were identified by their city, economic status, gender, and social class. Crossing these various boundaries was nearly impossible. People were boxed in and determined by factors beyond their control.
The Christian community, however, was a shining exception.
Today is independence day for Israelis. For the Palestinians it is the nakba day, the day of the catastrophe. 71 years ago. A catastrophe that is not yet over. The war that began in 1948 between Israel and the Palestinians is not yet over. Still the same hostility. Despite that, hope remained through generations. Life will come again.
After 71 years it is time for the war to stop and for the hostility to end.
One spring day, while tending their sheep in a property that was known as the Chousa, Lucia and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco, had led their flock to the east side of rocky outcropping known as the Cabeço. Here is Sister Lucia’s account of the events that took place:
From that first apparition at Fatima, Francisco quickly began to give lessons and examples to everyone on how we’re to react to what Our Lady revealed and asked.
May 13 marks the 102nd anniversary of Fatima. While not the same date, this year also commemorates the 100th anniversary of the death of Fatima seer St. Francisco.
Let’s recall the major event of the apparition first. May 13 was the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament. Keep that in mind for when we get to Francisco.
The Story of Our Lady of Fatima
Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children–Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos–received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners, and for the conversion of Russia.
