An important Marian celebration was organised by the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi (ORP) in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls on May 13th but this year it also featured a devotion to the Apostle of the Gentiles to mark the bi-millennium of his birth. May 13th is traditionally celebrated as the feast of Our Lady of Fatima and this year over five thousand faithful came to mark the occasion, reciting the Rosary in the park outside the basilica, gathered around the statue of Our Lady which was brought over from Portugal. Later the pilgrims moved inside for a solemn Mass presided over by Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and concelebrated by six bishops, by the vice-president of the ORP, Msg Liberio Andreatta and by 120 other priests. At the end of the celebration, the congregation responded with enthusiasm to the invitation from Cardinal Dias to join him in singing a well known song entitled ‘Mamma’ in honour of Our Lady.
