John Burke tells of his experience in May at the Fatima Shrine in Portugal where 100 years ago Mary appeared to three young shepherds, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, and encouraged them to pray for peace in the world. Pope Francis canonised Jacinta and Francisco Marto during the centenary celebrations.

It must be the greatest hundredth anniversary for Catholicism this century, and princes of the Church will be leading pilgrimages to Portugal throughout the northern summer. It was on six-monthly occasions that Our Lady appeared to three children in the rural parish of Fatima between May and October 2017 with prophesies that are still coming to pass.

I watched Pope Francis when he opened the centennial commemorations on 12 May before one million pilgrims from 51 countries as far apart as China and Chile. In an open popemobile, he toured the grounds around the neo-classical basilica before entering the separate Chapel of the Apparitions, built over the holm-oak where Mary appeared.

Twinkling lights appeared as he blessed the crowd’s candles, and then he sat before the white statue of Our Lady of Fatima, while the Rosary was recited in a series of languages, including English and Latin. After the vigil, he entered the basilica to see the tomb of Sister Lucia Dos Santos, the oldest visionary, whose cause for sainthood has just begun.

The great sensation was the canonisation, decided only in April, of her cousins, Francisco Marto (1908-1919) and Jacinta Marto (1910-1920) whose causes began back in 1952, and who were beatified at Fatima by John Paul II in 2000. The Sanctuary’s rector, Mgr Carlos Cabecinhos, had said the centenary would not be the same otherwise.

It followed the miraculous cure of Lucas from Recife, who fell from a window four years ago. Francis embraced the young Brazilian during the Mass of 13 May. Complete with choir and orchestra for plainchant — from Kyrie to Agnus Dei — the Mass was concelebrated by eight cardinals, 71 bishops and 2,000 priests — the biggest contingent being Portuguese.

The pontifical celebration lasted two and a half hours, including a sermon that did not go that deeply into the urgency of Mary’s message in 1917. Pope Francis did say she warned the godless of hell (her key phrase was “sins of the flesh”) and he acknowledged that not everyone would get into heaven. The seers had prayed for sinners, he said, omitting that Mary asked too for penances and insisted on the Rosary.

Pope Francis completely ignored claims that the Third Secret of Fatima was not fully disclosed in 2000, and that a resurgent Russia has not been properly consecrated — an act that, if repeated punctiliously, would end argument. “Russia will spread her errors worldwide”, Our Lady warned, and while she hinted at “a time of peace”, Pope Francis simply called himself “a pilgrim of peace and hope”.

And while urging us to love Muslims, he totally ignored the uncanny fact that, whereas Our Lady actually appeared outside the children’s hamlet of Aljustrel, she is identified with the once Moorish locality named after Mohammed’s favourite daughter. Perhaps that was a heavenly indication that Islam would be the ultimate chastisement that Mary hoped to avert.

There was no mention either of the terrifying miracle of the sun on 13 October 1917 that Paul VI would interpret as a threat of nuclear annihilation. Later popes also saw Fatima as almost apocalyptic, with Sister Lucia not quite denying the Last Days, yet Pope Francis merely repeated his predecessors’ references to “a woman clothed in the sun” (Rev 12:1).

Theological refinements, however, did not affect the piety of the multitude on the esplanade — known as the angel’s landing-ground — who heard the basilica’s bells peel out as Mass ended. The traditional sea of white handkerchiefs appeared as eight servicemen bore the Virgin’s statue on a flower-bedecked stand back to the chapel.

Even though Pope Francis spent barely 20 hours on Portuguese soil, it was the eighth visit by a pope and the sixth papal pilgrimage. It works out like that because John Paul I came as a cardinal, and his successor came as a bishop before three times as pope. Benedict XVI’s visit in 2010 saw an annual record of nine million pilgrims, after which numbers fell sharply.

In this centennial year, they may recover to eight million, especially as leading churchman, such as the Patriarch of Moscow, lead pilgrimages on the feast days. Cardinal Burke, who wants Russia consecrated, will say the old Latin Mass at Fatima. Rome will surely send another prelate on 13 October, the centenary of history’s most miraculous phenomenon.

To encourage pilgrims, a Plenary Indulgence is granted this year to anyone who walks out to Cova da Iria, a dell where the Angel of Portugal gave the seers Holy Communion ahead of the Marian apparitions.