Derrick CeyracPope John Paul II celebrates a mass May 12, 1991 in the Chapel of the Apparition in front of the statue of Virgin of Fatima in Fatima where about a million believers attended the Procession of Candles. In 1997, the pope dedicated a shrine in a Polish church to the Virgin of Fatima, thanking her for intervening to save him from an assassination attempt in 1981.
COMMENTARY: The 40th anniversary is a fitting time to dwell on God’s providence throughout the 20th century, which was the most violent, chaotic, and murderous 100-year period in human history.