Pope Francis has makes saints of two Portuguese shepherd children on Saturday by announcing to the crowd of around 500,000 gathered at Fátima, "We declare the blissful Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto saints."
One hundred years ago, three children said they saw the Virgin Mary while tending their sheep. The Church sets the first vision as being on 13 May, 1917.
Two of the children, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, now are canonised for the miracles attributed to them. They died in the 1918-1919 -flu pandemic.
On his visit to Portugal, Pope Francis landed at Montijo airbase and flew by helicopter to Fátima, ending his journey to the shrine in a special popemobile.
On landing in Portugal, Pope Francis was greeted by the President of the Republic and later met the Prime Minister António Costa for a private meeting ahead of the ceremony which was guarded by 6,000 police and security workers.
Access roads to Fátima were restricted by concrete blocks and Portugal’s entry points were restricted and heavily manned.
At a candle-lit vigil at the Chapel of the Apparitions, the Pope called for harmony between all people and spoke of wars "tearing our world apart."
Francis prayed the Virgin Mary would protect the most vulnerable members of society, "especially the sick and the disabled, prisoners and the unemployed, the poor and the abandoned."
