Patriarch of Lisbon to Preside Over the May International Anniversary Pilgrimage

Patriarch of Lisbon to Preside Over the May International Anniversary Pilgrimage

Bishop Rui Valério will preside over an International Anniversary Pilgrimage at the Sanctuary of Fátima for the first time.

The May International Anniversary Pilgrimage will be presided over by D. Rui Valério. This will be the first time the Patriarch of Lisbon has assumed the presidency of an anniversary pilgrimage at Cova da Iria since his appointment to the Patriarchal See in 2023.

The presence of D. Rui Valério at the Sanctuary of Fátima is regular, with the Patriarch frequently seen presiding over other pilgrimages, namely the Blessing of the Helmets.

The International Anniversary Pilgrimages, from May to October, evoke the apparitions of Our Lady to the Little Shepherds in 1917. They gather thousands of pilgrims at Cova da Iria, constituting central moments of prayer and renewal of faith. The May pilgrimage, which commemorates the first apparition of the Virgin to the three children of Aljustrel, is the most attended, welcoming more than 450,000 pilgrims last year.

D. Rui Valério is a native of Urqueira, in the municipality of Ourém, where he was born on December 24, 1964. He entered the Monfortino Seminary at a young age, graduated in Philosophy and Theology in Rome, specializing in Dogmatic Theology, and completed a postgraduate degree in Missionary Spirituality in Belgium.

He made his perpetual profession in the Congregation of the Monfortin Missionaries in October 1990 and was ordained a priest on March 23, 1991. Since then, he has performed various pastoral and ecclesial functions: he was a military chaplain at the Navy Hospital and the Naval School, a parochial vicar and parish priest in various communities, archpriest of the Archpriestship of Almodôvar, and vicar of the Vara of the Vicariate of Loures‑Odivelas.

In 2016, he was appointed by Pope Francis as one of the “Missionaries of Mercy” during the Extraordinary Jubilee.

In 2018, he was appointed Bishop of the Armed Forces and Security Forces, having accompanied several international missions in countries such as São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea‑Bissau, the Central African Republic, Romania, and Lithuania.

On August 10, 2023, he was named the 18th Patriarch of Lisbon, taking office the following month.

Presidencies of the next pilgrimages

In June, on the 12th and 13th, the celebration will be presided over by D. José Miguel Barata Pereira, Bishop of Guarda. In July, the presidency will fall to D. Pedro Alexandre Fernandes, Bishop of Portalegre‑Castelo Branco. The August pilgrimage will be led by D. Andrés Carrascosa Coso, Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal. In September, D. José Manuel Imbamba, Archbishop of Saurimo, Angola, will preside, and in October, D. Sebastião Mascarenhas, Bishop of Baroda, India, will preside over one of the most attended celebrations of the year.