FATIMA 2024

Fátima: More than 400 people participated in the second European Pilgrimage of Deaf People

Pilgrims from Portugal and other countries had the opportunity to overcome the "language barrier" and deepen their "knowledge of their faith"

The Sanctuary of Fátima hosted, from 26 to 29 September, the national and European pilgrimages of deaf people, which represented an opportunity for participants to deepen their knowledge of the faith.

"The language barrier means that, often, the message does not get through, or gets through very limitedly", explains André Pereira, director of the Reception and Pastoral Department of the Sanctuary of Fátima, in statements to the ECCLESIA Agency, adding that organizing moments like these means allowing people to "deepen their knowledge of their faith, their knowledge of Jesus, through the message of Fátima".

"[Pilgrimages] represent an opportunity for encounter, in the most basic but also profound sense of the term, for encounters and strengthening of personal relationships. This is no less important, but it is also an opportunity, in many cases, for almost a first catechesis," he noted this Saturday.

More than 400 pilgrims, according to the Sanctuary of Fátima, of different nationalities – Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, Iran, Egypt, USA and Ireland – participated in the 2nd European pilgrimage of deaf people and the 10th National Pilgrimage of the Deaf Community.

The Spaniard Miguel Garcia, president of the Deaf Catholics of Europe (CSE), explains that Fátima was the place chosen to be the destination of the second pilgrimage experience of the deaf in Europe, due to the desire that the Portuguese deaf community had in hosting the meeting in the country to channel attention at European level in Portugal.

"There are deaf bishops across Europe who were also curious about coming here. So, we thought that the publicity would be good, it would be interesting," he said, justifying the choice of the option also because "the Vatican has always recognized Fátima as a sacred place, as a place of spirituality, of Catholicism, of practical experience, of religion."

Asked about how the deaf community in Europe was experiencing the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Fátima, Miguel Garcia says that the reactions he received were "quite positive", with participants highlighting the importance of interaction between everyone, who have different cultures, realities and experiences.

Since 2013, the Sunday Eucharist at 3 pm, in the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, has been interpreted in Portuguese Sign Language; the celebrations that precede Easter, the Easter Triduum, in the sanctuary of Cova da Iria began to have LGP interpretation, in 2018.

According to André Pereira, "raising awareness is the first fundamental and truly necessary step" to increasingly integrate deaf people into the Catholic Church.

"Sometimes we don't do as much as we could because we are not aware of the need. We communicate, listeners communicate, information reaches us and we very easily forget about those to whom the information does not reach in the same way or so easily," he stressed.

Miguel Garcia is deaf and argues that in order to have greater accessibility, the community needs to understand that doors are open, to have visual information and to have technologies that allow access to information.

Over the course of four days, participants in the two pilgrimages carried out various activities, accompanied by sign language interpreters, some of whom are the same ones who are present throughout the year at the Sanctuary's celebrations.

The participants visited the Sanctuary of Fátima and the museum exhibitions; attended a conference and testimonies, a cultural session of contemporary dance and a catechesis on the message of Fátima.

In addition, they also participated in the prayer to Our Lady, in the rosary and candlelight procession, in the Chapel of Apparitions, and in the International Mass, in the prayer area.

The first National Pilgrimage of the Deaf Community took place in September 2015, after the Sanctuary included a Mass with interpretation in LGP in its weekly celebratory calendar, as a way of integrating the deaf community.

Deaf Catholics in Europe were responsible for organizing the 2nd European Pilgrimage of Deaf People, which has the support of the Pastoral Service for People with Disabilities, the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, and the Sanctuary of Fátima, which has been organizing the Pilgrimage of the Portuguese Deaf Community to Cova da Iria for about a decade.