Lisbon - More than 100,000 Catholics flocked to the shrine of Fatima yesterday to mark the anniversary of the last reported apparition of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children.
Fatima annually draws millions of people between May and October, when they believe the Virgin appeared five times in 1917.
Pope John Paul last week had a statue of Our Lady of Fatima brought from the Portuguese shrine to Rome to pray and give thanks to the Madonna, who he believes saved him from assassination 19 years ago.