FATIMA (Portugal): Pope Francis visited the revered Catholic Shrine of Fatima in Portugal on Saturday, praying the rosary for world peace with about 200,000 people at the site where the Church says the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in 1917.

The 86-year-old pope skipped reading a speech that was on the programme of his two-hour visit to the world-famous shrine north of Lisbon, and which was expected to have been the centrepiece of the day.

The omission did not appear to indicate that the pope was experiencing any health issues. He later greeted dozens of people individually as an aide slowly pushed his wheelchair through the crowd.

The Pope’s visit came in the midst of a wildfire that reached the vicinity of the shrine after destroying some 60 square km of forest and undergrowth.

Authorities evacuated about 100 villagers as a precaution, but there were no casualties or damage to homes.

The pontiff stopped often to kiss babies and comfort the sick as he made his way back to a helicopter transporting him to the next event on his five-day trip to Portugal.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope’s apparently last-minute decision to skip the speech had nothing to do with Francis’ eyesight.

Francis has shortened several speeches or has chosen to speak instead off-script since the trip started on Wednesday. He said on one occasion that he was having trouble with his glasses.

“The pope always addre­s­ses firstly the people he meets, as a shepherd, and speaks accordingly,” Bruni said in response to questions from reporters.

Later, on Francis’ account on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, the Vatican published part of the unread speech, which before the trip had been billed by Vatican media as an appeal for an end the war in Ukraine.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2023