The 4^th Regional Congress of the World Apostolate of Fatima for Africa will take place in Mbeya, Tanzania, from the 5^th to the 9^th of October 2023. This is a meeting of leaders and members of the movement from African nations that meet to discuss and plan the work in the continent.

The venue hosted by Archbishop Gervas Nyaisonga, bishop of Mbeya diocese and President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Tanzania is to be held at the Catholic University College of Mbeya. The program of the congress, whose theme is “Preparing the Continent of Africa for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” includes several talks, workshops and moments of prayer and Marian devotion.

Prof. Michael Ogunu, the WAF International President and coordinator for Africa region will attend the congress and shall offer two main talks; one on the role of the World Apostolate of Fatima in the evangelization of Africa and the other on the ways and means of effective promotion of the First Saturdays devotion in Africa. Nuno Prazeres, from the International Secretariat in Fatima, Portugal, is heading to Tanzania to participate and contribute with his experience in coordinating the affairs of the WAF.

Countries such as Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, and others have already registered members to participate in this meeting.

All over the world, children will be praying the rosary on the 18th of October 2023. This prayer initiative by the Foundation “Aid to the Church in need” aims to rekindle faith in the power of prayer. The worldwide campaign is an invitation to remember the words of Our Lady of Fatima that the childlike and trusting prayer of the rosary can truly change the world, defeat evil and bring peace.

The World Apostolate of Fatima, as in the past, is a partner to this initiative, helping to spread it and inviting its members, families, parishes, catechists, teachers to pray the rosary together with children, on the 18th of October, for peace and unity in the world. Register here your intention to join this initiative.

Praying the rosary together with children will strengthen unity in the Church and among peoples. We are all called to form one family across borders, united in prayer. Out of prayer grows love for God and neighbour. The rosary opens our hearts to concrete help for the persecuted, the needy and the poor in whom Christ himself suffers.

On this day, children will also recite the Rosary in the Chapel of the Apparitions, at Fatima, Portugal, in union with many other children in the world.

On the 2^nd of September 2023, the national center of the World Apostolate of Fatima in the Czech Republic is inaugurating an exact replica of the Little Chapel of the apparitions of Fatima, in Koclířov.  

The ceremony of the inauguration will be preceded by a two days theological-pastoral symposium, starting on the 31^st of August, with the participation of leading personalities from the Czech Republic and from abroad. Among these, there will the Rector of the Shrine of Fatima, from Portugal.

This replica of the chapel of Fatima is meant to reinforce the bonds with the Shrine of Fatima and help the faithful of eastern and central Europe, who visit this place, to grow in their Marian devotion, namely through the Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The program and further information can be found here: www.cm-fatima.cz and here www.capelinha.cz

The World Youth Day Lisbon 2023, whose theme revolves around the biblical quote «Mary arose and went with haste» (Lk 1:39) will be marked by several Marian references and symbols, some of them visibly connected with the Apparitions of Fatima. The presence of the Statue of Our Lady of Fatima in the closing Mass with Pope Francis, in Lisbon, just confirms this.   

At the request of the local organizing Committee of WYD Lisbon 2023, the statue of Our Lady venerated in the Chapel of the Apparitions, in the Shrine of Fatima, will be on the altar of the farewell Mass, presided over by the Holy Father, on Sunday morning, August 6^th, in Lisbon. This is the 13^th time the Statue of Our Lady makes a pilgrimage outside her chapel in Fatima. The day before, Pope Francis will pray to Our Lady of Fatima, in her Shrine, with the pilgrims, for peace in Ukraine and in the world.

The World Apostolate of Fatima is also participating in the dynamics and program of the World Youth Day. First, through the groups of young people associated with our Apostolate who are travelling for the event, from different countries. Secondly, also through the Secretariat’s welcoming to the many pilgrims visiting Fatima on such days.  

Besides this, the World Apostolate of Fatima, through its Secretariat, will have a Fatima booth at the “WYD Vocational Fair”, in partnership with the Portuguese “Movimento da Mensagem de Fatima”. The purpose is to promote the message of Fatima and our organizations. There will be a permanent team of volunteers welcoming everyone passing by and offering information about Our Lady’s apparitions, by informal conversation but also through an Online Fatima Quiz.

«His mercy is from age to age» (Lk. 1:50) is the theme chosen by the Holy Father for the III World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which shall take place on Sunday, July 23, in proximity to the liturgical memory of Saints Joachim and Anne, grandparents of Jesus and just days before the start of World Youth Day in Lisbon.

Joining Pope Francis’s call, the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life has invited the World Apostolate of Fatima to celebrate the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, possibly with a solemn Eucharistic celebration, together with grandparents and the elderly. At the same time, young people are also encouraged to visit the lonely elderly in their communities.

To assist in preparing for this, the Dicastery has prepared a series of pastoral tools that can be used. The Pastoral Kit is available on the website of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. See here.

This year, the Holy Father will preside over a solemn liturgy on the Day in St. Peter’s Basilica on July 23 at 10:00 a.m. in the presence of grandparents, the elderly and their families.