Shepherd Children of Fatima Closer to Sainthood

As quoted in the March 10 report at the Italian news website Faro di Roma, Cardinal Amato explained that he could not give the date of the possible canonization, since that depends on the decision by Pope Francis. Faro di Roma says that the miracle involved the cure of an Italian child.

The Pope will travel to Fatima on May 12 and 13 of this year, on the occasion of the centenary of the Marian apparitions.

UPDATE: On March 23, 2017, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree regarding a miracle attributed to the intercession of Bl. Francisco Marto and Bl. Jacinta Marto. According to Catholic World News, this Decree “creates the possibility that Pope Francis could preside at the canonization of Bl. Francisco and Jacinto Marto in May, when the Holy Father will visit the Portuguese shrine to mark the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions.”​

Beatified by Pope John Paul II

On December 23, 1918, Jacinta and her brother Francisco fell ill, victims of the Spanish flu that swept across Europe in 1918 following the First World War. Francisco, born on June 11, 1908, died on April 4, 1919, while his sister Jacinta, born on March 11, 1910, met her death on February 20, 1920. Although still children, they had practiced the virtues of faith, hope, and charity to a heroic degree in their prayer life, in persecution and in illness. Jacinta Marto was beatified on May 13, 2000, by Pope John Paul II in the same ceremony as her brother Francisco.

Of the three shepherd children who saw the Blessed Virgin at the Cova da Iria between May 13 and October 13, 1917, the sole survivor was Lucia dos Santos, the cousin of Francisco and Jacinta. Born on March 22, 1907, she later became a Carmelite nun and died on February 13, 2005 in Coimbra, at the age of 98. She is supposed to be beatified soon, the Italian news website writes.

Source: cath.ch, imedia - March 10, 2017