Fatima procession starts as Vatican announces Pope visit to Portugal

The Vatican's secretary of state said during a pilgrimage to the shrine of Fatima in centre of the country said that Pope Francis intends to visit Portugal in August. The Argentinian pontiff plans to attend World Youth Day, a global gathering of young Catholics, to be held this year in Lisbon from 1-6 August.

More than a million pilgrims are expected to attend the annual youth event, which is normally held every three years. Pope Francis visited the Fatima shrine in 2017. "The presence of the Pope in Fatima in August will be a special moment," the rector of the shrine said, indicating that the Argentine pontiff "will certainly give new emphasis to the issue of peace".