With less than five months to go until the Congress of Mary Help of Christians, the Provincial of the Salesians has extended an invitation to all the Marian movements in the country and to the whole Church to take part. Bishop José Ornelas will preside at the opening Eucharist and Father Carlos Cabecinhas will give a talk on Fatima.

The Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, José Ornelas, will preside at the opening Eucharist of the IX International Congress of Mary Help of Christians, on August 29 at 7pm. The announcement was made at a press conference held in the early afternoon of Friday, March 15, at the headquarters of the Salesian Province in Lisbon.

The Rector of the Shrine, Fr. Carlos Cabecinhas, will give the first talk on the morning of the 30th. The talk by the Rector of the Shrine is intended to give all the participants, who may be more or less familiar with Fatima, a contextualization of the history and message of one of the greatest places of Marian devotion in the world.

Father Tarcízio Morais, Provincial of the Salesians, extended the invitation to all the Marian movements in the country and to the whole Church to take part. He stressed that, although the Association of Mary Help of Christians is organizing the event, “the number one objective of the Congress is to get to know and deepen devotion to Mary”.

As soon as the intention to hold the Congress in Fatima was presented, recalled Father António Marcelino, SDB, of the Congress organizing team, the Shrine welcomed the initiative with total availability. “This Congress is from Fatima,” he recalled.

Andrea Bozzolo, Rector of the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome; the Spanish biblical scholar, Father Juan José Bartolomé; the specialist in Systematic Theology, the Uruguayan Sister Adriana Silva Castillo; the psychologist and psychotherapist, Maria Rita Scrimieri; and the Auxiliary Bishop of Donetsk, Ukraine, Bishop Maksym Ryabukha, SDB.

Bishop Maksym Ryabukha, SDB, will give a testimony to the participants and preside over the rosary and procession on the last day of August at the Shrine of Fatima.

The organization hopes to attract around 1,000 participants to the meeting, which has been the average attendance at recent congresses. “Initially, when it was announced that the next congress would be held in Portugal, we expected around 1,500 participants. But this has been the average for the last few congresses,” said the head of the organization, Father Marcelino.

Registration for the congress will remain open until July 24, said the organizers.

The detailed program for the IX Congress is being released by the organizers, who guarantee that there will also be many moments of prayer, with daily Eucharists and the Way of the Cross. “The participants ask for it,” explained the priest. On the days of the Congress, participants will have the opportunity to take part in the Eucharist in various languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. The opening and closing Eucharists will be joint.