The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima to visit Rome for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality in October

The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be brought to Rome for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, scheduled for 11 and 12 October 2025.

The famous image of the Virgin Mary, known to the faithful throughout the world and a powerful symbol of the "Hope that does not disappoint", will be present for the Mass in St. Peter's Square, on Sunday 12 October 2025 at 10:30 am, giving even greater significance to what will already be a powerful moment of prayer and reflection. Entrance to St. Peter's Square, for the Mass will be free and no entrance ticket will be required. Registrations are already open on the website and will close on August 10, 2025.

This is the fourth time that the statue has left the Shrine of Fatima to come to Rome: the first was in 1984 for the Extraordinary Jubilee of the Redemption, when on March 25, Saint John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; the second time was in the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 and the third, in October 2013, for the Year of Faith with Pope Francis.

"The presence of the much-loved original statue of Our Lady of Fatima will allow everyone to experience the closeness of the Virgin Mary," said the Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Rino Fisichella. He continued: “This is one of the most significant Marian icons for Christians throughout the world who, as the Holy Father emphasizes in the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee, Spes non confundit, venerate her as the ‘most affectionate of mothers, who never abandons her children’. At Fatima, the Virgin said to the three little shepherds what she continues to assure each of us: “I will never leave you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the path that will lead you to God”.

“This statue leaves the Sanctuary of Cova da Iria only in exceptional circumstances and only at the request of the Popes,” said the rector of the Sanctuary of Fatima, Fr. Carlos Cabecinhas. “In this Jubilee period, the Virgin of Fatima is the woman of Easter joy, even in the painful times in which we live.

He added: “Once again the ‘Lady dressed in white’ will be a pilgrim of hope and, in Rome, she will be with the ‘bishop dressed in white’, as the shepherds of Fatima affectionately called the Holy Father.”

The sculpture, the work of Portuguese artist José Ferreira Thedim who created it in 1920, is usually kept in the Chapel of the Apparitions at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. It was on that spot, from May to October 1917, that the Virgin appeared six times to the shepherds Lucia dos Santos, aged 10, Giacinta Marto, aged 7, and Francesco Marto, aged 9.

The statue is 104 centimeters tall and was carved from a Brazilian cedar, following the descriptions provided by the three shepherd children. It was solemnly crowned on 13 May 1946 and, subsequently, the bullet that hit John Paul II in the 1981 assassination attempt was set into the crown.