Lisbon, Portugal, May 11, 2010 / 08:35 am
Pope Benedict XVI departed from Rome this morning and arrived at the Portela International Airport in Lisbon, Portugal, commencing the 15th foreign visit of his pontificate. Speaking at the airport, the Holy Father announced that the goal of his visit is to share wisdom and remind Christians of their mission.
The Holy Father was greeted when he arrived at the airport by president of the Republic of Portugal Anibal Cavaco Silva and by the Patriarch of Portugal, Cardinal Jose de la Cruz Policarpo, as well as other civil authorities and members of the Portuguese episcopate.
In an address following his arrival, the Pope stated that he comes “as a pilgrim to Our Lady of Fatima, invested from on high with the mission of confirming my brothers and sisters as they advance on their own pilgrimage towards heaven.”
Referring to the apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Pope Benedict said, “As for the event that took place 93 years ago, when heaven itself was opened over Portugal – like a window of hope that God opens when man closes the door to him – in order to refashion, within the human family, the bonds of fraternal solidarity based on the mutual recognition of the one Father, this was a loving design from God; it does not depend on the Pope, nor on any other ecclesial authority: 'It was not the Church that imposed Fatima,' as Cardinal Manuel Cerejeira of blessed memory used to say, 'but it was Fatima that imposed itself on the Church'.”