Fatima, Portugal, Places to Park, Basilica, Chapel, Books
- mcoelho813
- Nov 6
- 11 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Quick Facts
Fatima is a religious town
All people are welcome in Fatima
It is recommended to cover your shoulders to enter the Basilica.
Parking is free in the lots
The shops next to the Basilica are the Fatima-run stores.
Fatima is a wonderful, peaceful city to visit at any time of the year.
May -October 13th is the busiest day in Fatima.
Don't forget to visit the little shepherd's houses, the well, and the Stations of the Cross
Pilgrimage site where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in 1917.
People make promises to the Lady of Fatima for help with their loved ones, their own health, or care for a family member.
Built into the crown of the Fatima statue is the bullet removed from Pope John Paul ll after an attempted assassination.
Fatima is celebrated on the 13th of the month
Where to park in the Fatima Chapel Basilica, Portugal
Fatima Chapel Basilica in Portugal
Park behind the Basilica near Lot #7. The parking is free, and there are some shady areas in Lot #7. There are public bathrooms behind the Basilica between the parking lot and the Church. The bathrooms are not always clean, nor do they always have toilet tissue. The walk is long but on a wide sidewalk. Enter the Church and pray. Take lots of photos. Be prepared to walk down steep steps or go to the side of the Church and walk down the long slope toward the shops and the small church.
Where is Fatima?
You will hear people speaking various languages. The feeling of pure joy tingles through your body as you see people crawling on their knees toward the small Church and circling the Chapel, praying in the Chapel, meditating, lighting candles, and enjoying the peace of the area.
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Why are people crawling into the lot and around the Chapel? People make promises to the Lady of Fatima for help with their loved ones, their own health, or care for a family member. The person then walks from their town in Portugal to Fatima. It could take days or weeks to complete this pilgrimage. Then, when they enter the large lot in front of the Basilica, they begin the crawl into the lot on the tile path and crawl around the Chapel.
New Church in Fatima
Across the huge lot, you can see the new Church. The new Church is basic and modern. Enter the new Church on the side of the building. There is a gold textured mural behind the altar with a large statue of Christ on the Cross. For the daily mass, an endless procession of priests enters on the right side of the building, walking down the aisle on the right toward the altar. The altar servers placed large photos of Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia. When the choir sang, the pipe organ joined in. The sound of the music and singing was like a feather falling from the sky. The large pipes on the wall vibrated in elegance. The seats were set up like a theater. The building felt cold and damp. The architecture was modern and plain. The interior of the Church was disappointing. The mass was wonderful and the choir was breathtaking, but the building is too blah. There were no books or pamphlets to pick up.
An interesting fact about the Chapel.
In the Chapel of the Apparitions, there is a statue of the Lady of Fatima with a gold crown. Built into the crown is the bullet removed from Pope John Paul ll after an attempted assassination.
On the 13th of each month, thousands of people flock to Fatima to celebrate, pray, and ask for help with a loved one. From May to October 13th, larger crowds gather in Fatima to pray and celebrate the visions of the Virgin to the three shepherds.
The large Basilica was built in 1928 and renovated several times over the years. The large Church is dominated by a tower rising 70 meters high. The ornate Church is adorned w
Fatima is a great day trip from Porto on your way to Lisbon.
Take note, as of March 2024, the museum near the little shepherd houses is under construction, but the walking path is open.
How far is Fatima from Lisbon?
By car @ 1 hour 45 minutes
Live mass Fatima
BOOKS ABOUT F A T I M A
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Our Lady of Fatima Paperback –Our Lady of Fatima is a magnificent re-creation of an event whose effects are still reverberating throughout the world -- the appearance in person of the Mother of God with a "peace plan from heaven."
My favorite book about Fatima. It is easy to read and easy to understand.
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Fatima: The Apparition That Changed the World Hardcover – May 15, 2017
Long-time devotees of our Blessed Mother will treasure this beautifully illustrated book under the title of Our Lady of Fatima. This is a must-have photo book for your bookshelf.
Fatima
Fatima
The new church in Fatima
Fatima, you have the New Holy Trinity Cathedral and the Sanctuary. They are across from each other across Sanctuary Square.
Day trips from Fatima
After the Fatima visit, add Batalha /Alcobaça or Tomar to your Fatima day trip
Fatima Calendar
Fatima Online store
Christmas Concert
“Do not be afraid. I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.”
The shepherds meet the Angel
Top Religious Sites in Portugal
Top Religious Sites to See In Portugal
Top 5 Religious Sites in Portugal
1. Fátima Sanctuary
Pilgrimage site where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in 1917.
2. Jerónimos Monastery (Lisbon)
A masterpiece of Manueline architecture.
3. Batalha Monastery
Built to honor victory in battle—gothic and grand.
4. Bom Jesus do Monte (Braga)
Stunning staircase leading to a hilltop church.
5. Monastery of Alcobaça
One of Portugal’s oldest, with a tragic royal love story.
Explore spirituality and architecture in Portugal’s sacred spaces.
Event Details October 13, 2025
October 13 Schedule
Jubilee of Marian Spirituality (Rome, Italy):
Date: October 11-12, 2025
Event: The Holy Mass in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, October 12, will feature the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
Significance: This is a special, rare occasion for the statue to leave the Fatima Shrine, making it the fourth time it has traveled to Rome for such events.
Feast of Our Lady of Fatima (Fatima, Portugal):
Date: October 13, 2025
Significance: This date commemorates the "Miracle of the Sun," a significant event in 1917 where the sun appeared to spin and change colors.
Experience: You can join pilgrims at the Sanctuary of Fatima for prayer, thanksgiving, and devotion on the very ground where the apparitions occurred.
On the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, Catholics remember the messages of Mary and renew their commitment to prayer, penance, and conversion. They also celebrate the miracle of the sun, which was witnessed by thousands of people on October 13, 1917, and is seen as a confirmation of the authenticity of the apparitions.
https://www.fatima.pt/en/pages/the-event-of-fatima
Fatima Itinerary (expandable link)
"PILGRIMS' ITINERARY SHRINE
2024-2025
PILGRIMS
HOPE 2nd YEAR OF THE PASTORAL CYCLE / ENCOUNTERING
HOPE PASTORAL YEAR 2024-2025 28/02/2025
BASILICA OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY, the ecclesia, the assembly gathered by Christ in communal celebration of her faith, in a living encounter with Him. Mary, Mother of the Church — who has witnessed and kept in her heart every action, every gesture, every word of her Son, to whom she always points our gaze and our heart — is with this community. I realise that I am a member of this community, that I too am invited to follow Jesus and called to bear witness to the good news of salvation that He is. I recall my baptism and renew my commitment to live as a member of the Body of Christ, inwardly professing my faith, the faith of the Church. I meditate on these words of Sister Lucia, from the prayer taught by the Earth, the only One worthy of being served, adored, and loved.” I withdraw into silence and prayer. I ask the Lady of Fatima, announcing the Kingdom. I pray for the Pope and his intentions. The Word of God is inscribed in twenty-six languages. The condition of a pilgrim-missionary that belongs to every Christian, making myself a herald of salvation and a builder of communion. On my way to the Chapel of the Apparitions, I pass through the Jubilee portico at the top of the Prayer Area, which marks the Holy Year we are living through festively. In so doing, recognising myself as a member of the Church on a pilgrimage of hope, I join all my brothers and sisters in thanksgiving for the redemptive work of Christ. THE HIGH CROSS In this elevated place, from where I can observe the movement andE PILGRIM’S ITINER202ication for a material construction, but also, more essentially, an invitation to the ongoing construction of the Church of which I am a part, I let myself be guided by the teaching of Our Lady of the Rosary, who always tells us: “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5). I meditate on the life and words of Jesus and try to discern His will for me and my mission in the community. I am invited to contemplate the mysteries of Jesus’ life by reciting the rosary, so that I can better understand them and integrate them into myself, becoming more and more like Him. Finally, in an attitude of praise and thanksgiving for the Jubilee period we have been given to experience, I entrust myself to the Virgin Mary so that, with her and like her, I may consecrate myself to the Lord of life, joy, and blessing, the source of true hope and the reason for my pilgrimage. Hail, Mother of the Lord, Virgin Mary, Queen of the Rosary of Fatima! Blessed among all women, you are the image of the Church dressed in the Paschal light, you are the honour of our people, you are the triumph over the shadow of evil. Prophecy of the merciful Love of the Father, Teacher of the Annunciation of the Good News of the Son, Sign of the burning Fire of the Holy Spirit, teach us, in this valley of joys and sorrows, the eternal truths that the Father reveals to the little ones. Show us the might of your mantle of protection. In your Immaculate Heart, be the refuge of sinners and the way that leads to God. In union with my brothers and sisters, in Faith, Hope, and Love, I surrender myself to you. In union with my brothers and sisters, through you, I consecrate myself to God, O Virgin of the Rosary of Fatima. And thus surrounded by the Light that comes from your hands, I will give Glory to the Lord forever and ever. Amen.
BASILICA OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY OF FATIMA THE HIGH CROSS BASILICA OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY LITTLE CHAARY SHRINE 2024-2025 4-2025 EN PILGRIMS
HOPE 2nd YEAR OF THE PASTORAL CYCLE / ENCOUNTERING HOPE PASTORAL YEAR 2024-2025 LITTLE CHAPEL OF THE Attle chapel commemorating the a of the Viebry stage of life. Today, I live this condition of mine by making it a reality through my pilgrimage to this Shrine. I come as a pilgrim, carrying in my heart the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties that inhabit me and my fellow men and women. I am a pilgrim of hope, in this jubilee time that we have been given to live. I prepare my heart to listen to His voice, which at Fatima was heard in a maternal tone, through the voice of Mary. With Saints Francisco and Jacinta, presented by John Paul II from his hands the “hope that does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5), which only He can give. I approach the tombs of the little seers of Fatima, which are in this basilica. I pause there in contemplative and prayerful silence, asking for their intercession before God for the good of humanity and the world. I continue my pilgrimage towards the High Cross of the Shrine, at the top of the Prayer Area.
The assembly gathered by Christ in communal celebration of her faith, in a living encounter with Him. Mary, Mother of the Church — who has witnessed and kept in her heart every action, every gesture, every word of her Son, to wuroved me to the point of giving his own life so that I might live. Jesus loves me and wants me to live. I go down to the Galilee of the Apostles, St Peter and St Paul, and into the atrium of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. I contemplate the sculpture “In the Heart of Mary”. Before this white heart, the image of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mother. In Fatima,
I can go to the Chapels of Reconciliation to lay bare before God, through his minister, the cracks in my heart, in my life. It is by Finally, I enter the Blessed Sacrament Chapel to be with ‘the hidden Jesus’. I can pray these words, among others: Lord Jesus, though veiled under the whiteness of the Eucharistic bread, it is You who awaits me here for a heart-to-heart dialogue. Receive my time, my thoughts, my gaze; welcome my whole life and make me whole; unify my heart and make it like yours. Amen. I then walk up to the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, approaching the image of Our Lady of Fatima. BASILICA OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY OF FATIMA I begin my journey “In the name of the Father and of the Son of every human being, it is the mark that unites us all in the same horizon of journey and development, inner and outer, and that permeates our being at every stage of life. Today, I live this condition of mine by making it a reality through my pilgrimage to this Shrine. I come as a pilgrim, carrying in my heart the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties." Copied from the website https://www.fatima.pt/en/pages/pilgrims-itinerary-2025
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Fátima, Portugal: A Complete Guide to the Sanctuary and Pilgrimage Site
Discovering the Miracle of Fátima: A Spiritual Journey in Portugal
How to Visit Fátima from Lisbon – A Traveler’s Guide to Portugal’s Holy City
The Story of Our Lady of Fátima and What to See at the Sanctuary Today
Faith, History, and Peace: Exploring Fátima, Portugal
October 14, 15 schedule
PROGRAM Message and Charisma
Monday, October 13th, 2025 - Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Monday, October 13 Schedule
Monday, October 13th
5:00 PM | Opening session
Sister Simona Brambilla, Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
D. José Ornelas Carvalho, Bishop of Leiria-Fátima
Fr. Carlos Cabecinhas, Rector of the Shrine of Fatima
Doctor Marco Daniel Duarte, Coordinator of the meeting, Message and Charisma — Meeting of Institutes of Consecrated Life founded after Fátima
5:30 PM | Marian Spirituality in Consecrated Life in the 21st Century
Simona Brambilla
Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
6:30 PM | Vespers
Presiding Bishop José Ornelas Carvalho, Bishop of Leiria-Fátima
Dinner break
9:30 PM | Rosary and candlelight procession | Chapel of the Apparitions
Tuesday, Oct 14th Schedule
9:00 AM | Lauds
10:00 AM | The spirituality of Fatima
Carlos Cabecinhas
Sanctuary of Fatima
10:15 AM | break
11:45 AM | Fátima and the contemporary world: aspects of the global dimension of a religious phenomenon
Marco Daniel Duarte
Department of Studies of the Sanctuary of Fátima
12:00 PM | Congregationalist movements in contemporary times: warm spiritualities in a cold world
José Eduardo Franco
Center for Global Studies of the Open University
12:45 PM | Debate
1:00 PM | Lunch break
2:30 PM | Overview of the Institutes of Consecrated Life founded after Fátima: research by the Department of Studies
Sónia Vazão
Department of Studies of the Sanctuary of Fátima
3:00 p.m. | Institutes of Consecrated Life founded after Fatima(presentation by members of the Institutes)
6:00 p.m. | Mass (with celebration of Vespers)Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima. Presiding over is Fr. Carlos Cabecinhas, Rector of the Shrine of Fatima 9:15 p.m. | Concert “Message and Charisma” Choir of the Shrine of Fatima and Schola Cantorum Shepherdinhos of Fatima Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima
Wednesday, Oct 15
Wednesday, October 15th
9:00 AM | Lauds
10:00 AM | The charisma of Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto
Franco Manzi
Facoltà theologica dell'Italia Settentrionale, Milan
10:45 AM | Break
11:45 AM | The charisma of Lúcia de Jesus
Ângela Coelho
Cause for Canonization of Sister Maria Lúcia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart, OCD
12:00 PM | Debate
1:00 PM | Lunch break
3:00 p.m. | Visit to the Sanctuary of Fátima
5:00 PM | Closing
D. António Marto
Cardinal, Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Bishop Emeritus of Leiria-Fátima
6:30 p.m. | Mass (with celebration of Vespers)
Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, Presiding Cardinal D. António Marto, Bishop Emeritus of Leiria-Fatima
9:15 PM | Visit to the temporary exhibition "Serving: The Only Sermon." Exhibition commemorating the centennial of the Association of the Servites of Our Lady of Fatima,
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ENROLLMENT Religious Sites to see in Portugal
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