June 2025- Newsletter Live
World Apostolate of Fatima England and Wales
June 2025 Newsletter
Dear Readers,
We are excited to welcome you to the revamped WAF England and Wales June 2025 Newsletter! This month, we are excited to share not only our refreshed and engaging newsletter but also the launch of our newly updated website, reflecting all the latest developments and features. We hope you enjoy exploring everything that is new and improved this month!
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June is the month of the Sacred Heart, a time when many reflect on the profound love and mercy encapsulated within this devotion. This theme aligns closely with the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which plays a significant role in the message of Fatima. The connection between these two devotions emphasizes the importance of love, compassion, and the call to deepening one's faith, highlighting how both the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary offer a unique path to understanding divine love.
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NEWSLETTER CONTENTS
๏ปฟMESSAGE FROM OUR NATIONAL PRESIDENT
NEW / RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
FOCUS ON FIRST SATURDAYS!
WAF AGM & VOLUNTEERS - URGENT APPEAL
FROM OUR NATIONAL SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
NOTICES - FOCUS ON ACTIVITY
PLEDGE MEMBER FEEDBACK FEATURE
FATIMA ARTICLES
FATIMA GLOBAL NEWS FEATURE
EVENTS / VISITATIONS
DONATIONS
News updates from Patrick Cunningham,
Topics covered: Cathedral Visitations / Online Rosary / Catholic Bishops Statement / Pontevedra Jubilee Year
Dear Members,
CATHEDRAL VISITATIONS COMMENCE
I am pleased to inform you that the PVS pilgrimage tour around the Cathedrals has started with the opening visit to St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Swansea, presided over by our Patron Bishop and Archbishop of Cardiff and Menevia, Rt Rev Mark O’Toole. EWTN-GB was present to film during the day as part of our collaboration to promote the First Five Saturday devotion. You can see the podcast from His Grace Mark O’Toole talking about the Rosary and the First Five Saturday devotion below.
The importance of the cathedral visits lies in the fact that they allow the faithful to bear witness to our faith and to God’s request to make Our Holy Mother known and loved. The Visitations are an opportunity to celebrate Mass, for prayer, namely the rosary, for adoration, for reconciliation, and also to view a film and talk about the events that took place in Fatima and their relevance in today’s world.
WAF-E&W Custodians and their respective teams visited four cathedrals in May, and a further four will be visited in June. I hope you will be able to join us as we continue our journey around the dioceses of England and Wales. The full list of Visitations can be seen below.
ON-LINE ROSARY AND PROMOTER TRAINING
In recognition of Our Lady’s request to say the rosary, and with the particular intention of hastening world peace, we hope to recommence an online rosary soon and will keep you informed about that.
We are also planning to arrange online Promoter training to assist those who feel called to help promote the message of Fatima within their locality. There is such an online event on 16th June from 7-9 pm. More details about this can be seen below.
CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE OF ENGLAND AND WALES STATEMENT
In this Jubilee Year of Hope, the bishops have recognized the profound invitations to peace, prayer, and penance contained in the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima. They encourage all Catholics to a renewal of faith, especially in their love for the Eucharist and the sacraments, and commend the Five First Saturdays devotion as a fruitful means to enter into this renewal. You can see more details about this statement at the link below.
VATICAN GRANTS A JUBILEE YEAR TO SHRINE AT PONTEVEDRA BETWEEN 10 DEC 2025 AND 2026
In granting this Jubilee Year, the Holy See is offering a special of spiritual graces to all those who shall make a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Pontevedra and fulfil the normal requirements to obtain the indulgences of the jubilee. More details about this can be seen below.
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NEW / RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Useful Resources and Media๏ปฟ
Our new website
We have now completed our new website. Please visit and explore the wide range of content.
Insights from Archbishop O'Toole
Our Patron Bishop Archbishop Mark O'Toole reflects on the Fatima message and the First Saturday devotion in a
short video.
New - WAF Introductory Video
Our new video emphasises the importance of the Fatima message for our times and how we can best respond.
View the video here.
Visitation - Holy Rood parish Swindon
The National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fàtima and the Relics of Ss Francisco and Jacinta Marto visited the Catholic Parish of Holy Rood in Swindon from 7-8th June 2025.
More details here.
FOCUS ON FIRST SATURDAYS
๏ปฟWe hope you were able to participate in the Fatima Five First Saturdays devotion recently. Here are some useful resources to help you understand better this important devotion.
WAF AGM & VOLUNTEERS - URGENT APPEAL
๏ปฟPlease look at this information about the WAF AGM in October this year, and our need volunteers to help our mission to spread the message of Fatima. The poster can be printed off and shared from the link below. Also this image can be shared on social media.
FROM OUR NATIONAL SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
Spiritual reflections from Canon Jason
Topics include: The Pontevedra Shrine / June - Month of Sacred heart / The Feast of the Immaculate Heart / First Five Saturdays / Feast Corpus Christi / Pope Leo
Dear WAF Family,
We are all delighted to share the joyful news that the Vatican has announced the possibility of obtaining a Plenary Indulgence at the Pontevedra Shrine during the centennial year, from 10 December 2025 to 10 December 2026.
This spiritual gift is not only a beautiful gesture from the Church, but it also serves to recognize and encourage deeper devotion to, and awareness of, the Five First Saturdays Devotion—its necessity, and the urgent need to promote it now more than ever.
As we begin the month of June, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, we note that the day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart (27th June) is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady.
As we prepare for our First Saturday Devotion and the celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Heart, let us reflect on the significance of the 13 June 1917 apparition of Our Lady at Fatima. In this apparition, Our Lady assured Lucia that her Immaculate Heart would be Lucia’s refuge and the way that would lead her to God. Lucia further recalled:
“In the palm of the right hand of Our Lady there was a Heart, surrounded by thorns which seemed to pierce it. We understood that it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, outraged by the sins of humanity, which demanded reparation.”
Our participation in, observance of, and promotion of the Five First Saturdays is a wonderful way to remove these thorns from the Immaculate Heart. By keeping Our Lady company for fifteen minutes, we bring healing and comfort to her Heart. Through our First Saturday confession, we turn away from sin—which has inflicted these thorns—and offer a loving, reparatory sacrifice.
During this month of June, as we also celebrate the great Feast of Corpus Christi, let us make many acts of reparation to the Hidden Jesus, following the example of St. Francisco. With St. Jacinta, may we pray for our beloved new Pontiff, Pope Leo.
With my prayers for you all, and for all the children in your families and parishes making their First Holy Communions in the coming weeks,
Canon Jason Jones
National Spiritual Director๏ปฟ
FATIMA NOTICE BOARD
Click on the section below for more about our important events or activites
PLEDGE MEMBER FEEDBACK
Reflections, thoughts and insights from members
Do you have something to share? A story or an experience which helped with your journey of faith ... please let us know.
Tom, age 15 from Cardiff on the Swansea Cathedral Visitation
It was a pleasure to go to Swansea for the first visitation of Our Lady of Fatima’s statue and the Relics of the little saints of Fatima, which are now touring England and Wales. It was a day of prayer, faith, love and MARY – what more could you want. It was a wonderful chance to meet so many Catholics who love Our Beautiful Mother, and hear so much about her and her modern mission in today’s world!
As a convert from high Church Anglicanism, Our Lady has always been a massive part of my faith since through her, I was led to the Catholic Church. What I’ve realised is that Mary brings me to her Son as no one else does, and says ‘Do whatever He tells you.’ She then walks with me and helps me to do just that. Without devotion to Mary my prayer life fades and without the rosary I can’t love God as I ought. It was so beautiful therefore to see so many people with a great love of Our Mum and her Rosary.
As a member of the World Apostolate of Fatima, I had to go to such a wonderful event but especially when I heard that Saint Francisco and Jacinta’s relics would be there, especially since Our Lady chose to come to such young children with her message of peace. It reminds me that in her heart Mary is a mother first with a great love for her children.
As the Mother of God she also answers the problems of our world especially for the young. One of my favourite Marian hymns ‘Holy virgin by God’s decree’ sums this up perfectly when it says ‘To our needy world of today, Love and Beauty you portray showing the path to Christ we must trace, Mary Our Mother, Hail, full of Grace’.
Young people today have to grow up in a world without hope, without satisfaction and without peace, a world full of promiscuity where the unborn are killed, the sick and elderly seen as a burden and so many are so far from Christ. But Mary is the answer to all this; she shows us what true beauty is – humility and love of God, and she leads us back to the arms of her Son and to His Church.
Her apparitions are warnings but also messages of great power. She reminds us the power of humble prayer, that a simple string of beads can stop wars, and all the powers that threaten the Church and the world. She reminds us that God is more powerful than all of this, and that in the end - despite many thinking all hope is lost and seeing evil being accepted and celebrated everywhere – she will triumph.
We can have confidence that her Immaculate Heart will triumph, peace will be won and souls will be saved, but we must act steadfastly – prayer and reparation can save the world. Our Lady simply asks us to pray the rosary and keep the First Saturday devotions so that she may bring hearts back to her Son and put her Son back into hearts.
It is so wonderful to think that her little Saints will be travelling the country with her Statues during the centenary year, and that Catholics will be able to hear the Fatima message.
It was an absolute pleasure to be at the start of this tour, in Wales, and we must pray that Our Lady brings England and Wales back to God.
Ave Maria!
God bless
Tom
Thomas Hobbs (15) Cardiff
FATIMA ARTICLES
Informative and topical articles related to the Message of Fatima
The Popes and Fatima by Tim Tindal-Robertson
Papal approval of the Message of Fatima
This is the tenth of a series of brief articles which summarise the principal points in Tim Tindal-Robertson's Message of Fatima in the Life of the Church and the Teaching of the Popes, which was published by the Catholic Truth Society, London, in 1998, together with his Fatima in the Third Millennium, CTS London, 2001.
This tenth article continues with Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI, 19 April 2005 to 28 February 2013
In his homily at Fatima on 13th May 2005, Cardinal Policarpo, Patriarch Lisbon, announced that in the Mass he was honouring a promise he made at the end of the Conclave to the newly elected Pontiff, when his turn came to greet him and swear to him communion and obedience: namely, to place his Pontificate at the feet of Our Lady.
In the Angelus on 5th June 2005, Pope Benedict invoked the Virgin of Fatima in these words:
“The heart that resembles that of Christ more than any other is without a doubt the heart of Mary, His Immaculate Mother, and for this very reason the liturgy holds them up together for our veneration. Responding to the Virgin’s invitation at Fatima, let us entrust the whole world to her Immaculate Heart, which we contemplated yesterday in a special way, so that it may experience the merciful love of God and know true peace”.
Regina Caeli address by Pope Benedict on 14th May 2006
“A way to remain united to Christ, as branches on the vine, is to have recourse to the intercession of Mary, whom we venerated yesterday, May 13.
The message she entrusted to the three little shepherds, in continuity with that of Lourdes, was an intense call to prayer and conversion, a truly prophetic message, above all if one considers that the 20th century was scourged by unheard-of destructions, caused by wars and totalitarian regimes, as well as extensive persecutions against the Catholic Church. Moreover, on May 13, 1981, 25 years ago, the servant of God, Pope John Paul II, felt that he was saved miraculously from death by the intervention of a "maternal hand," as he himself said, and the whole of his pontificate was marked by what the Virgin had said at Fatima.
Although there is no lack of anxieties and sufferings, and although there are still reasons for apprehension about the future of humanity, what the "Lady in white" promised the little shepherds is consoling: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph." With this conviction, we now turn to Mary most holy, thanking her for her constant intercession and asking her to continue to watch over the path of the Church and of humanity, especially families, mothers and children.”
To mark the 25th anniversary of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, the statue of Our Lady from the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fatima was processed into St Peter’s Square on 13th May 2006. At the exact spot where John Paul II fell, a stone was placed with his coat of arms and the date: 13th May 1981. Cardinal Ruini then presided over Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, and read out a message from Pope Benedict XVI expressing the hope that, “the message of Fatima will be increasingly accepted, understood, and lived in every community.”
Pope Benedict’s visit to Fatima, 11–14 May 2010, by Father Lombardi SJ of the Vatican Press Office
VATICAN CITY, MAY 9, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is going to Fatima to show how God acts in history, which is one of the key lessons of the Virgin Mary's apparitions to three Portuguese little shepherds, says a Vatican spokesman.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, analyzed, in an editorial of the latest edition of the Vatican Television Center program "Octava Dies", the reasons why the Holy Father is visiting Portugal this month, from May 11-14, 2010, on the 10th anniversary of the beatification of Jacinta and Francisco Marto.
"John Paul II wanted the 'third secret' of Fatima to be revealed on the occasion of the beatification of the two little shepherds, Francisco and Jacinta, during the Jubilee of 2000, the transition between two millenniums," said Father Lombardi. "A century was ending characterized by great sufferings, on which in fact the visions of Fatima gave at once a dramatic and luminous interpretation: time of war and of martyrdom, in which the Church and the Pope himself shared profoundly the sufferings and thirst for salvation of the whole of humanity."
The following extracts of the homilies and addresses of Pope Benedict at Fatima are taken from the CTS booklet, Benedict XVI, Shepherds of Fatima.
In our time, in which the faith in many places seems like a light in danger of being snuffed out for ever, the highest priority is to make God visible in the world, and to open to humanity a way to God. (Rosary in the Chapel of the Apparitions, 12 May 2010).
The Lady “come from heaven” [was] the teacher who introduced the little seers to a deep knowledge of the love of the Blessed Trinity, and led them to savour God Himself as the most beautiful reality of human existence.
We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic mission is complete … may the seven years which separate us from the centenary of the apparitions hasten the fulfilment of the prophecy of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. (Homily at Mass on 13 May 2010)
Catholic Herald Article published 13 May 2025
Just over a century ago, between May and October 1917, Our Lady appeared at Fátima in Portugal, at the height of World War I – as Europe was tearing itself apart in a fratricidal struggle – with a message of peace and salvation for all. In our own time, we can see that we live in a world where peace is still at a premium; particularly in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia we have a situation reminiscent of the worst aspects of the terrible trench warfare of the First World War. Read more.
FATIMA GLOBAL NEWS
Fatima News highlights from around the World
Vatican Grants Pontevedra Jubilee Year
Vatican grants a Jubilee Year to the Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pontevedra for the centenary of Our Lady’s Apparition to Sister Lucia.
The Vatican has granted the Convent-Shrine of Pontevedra, in Spain, the privilege of celebrating a Marian Jubilee Year from December 10, 2025 to December 10, 2026, on the occasion of the centenary of the apparition of Our Lady and the Child Jesus to Sister Lucia. It was during this apparition, on December 10, 1925, that the devotion of the First Five Saturdays of the month was requested by Our Lady. Read more.
EVENTS / VISITATIONS
Some video highlights of recent Fatima events and media.
