The organisation of this pilgrimage is supported by the Pastoral Service for People with Disabilities, of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, and, according to the rector of the Sanctuary of Fátima, Carlos Cabecinhas, the usual pilgrimage of the Portuguese deaf community, this year in its tenth edition, will coincide with the II European Pilgrimage.

For Carlos Cabecinhas, this will be “a great event”, constituting a “moment in which we invite communities of deaf people from all European countries to meet”.

Annually, the Sanctuary of Fátima, at the end of September or beginning of October, hosts the national pilgrimage of deaf people.

The 2023 edition featured more than a hundred deaf pilgrims, with the Sanctuary of Fátima having made Portuguese Sign Language interpretation available in multiple celebrations since 2013.

“The annual realisation of this pilgrimage signals and reinforces the attention to inclusion that has been cared for and progressively increased in the Sanctuary”, considers André Pereira, director of the Department of Reception and Pastoral Care at the Sanctuary of Fátima, in statements to the newspaper Voz da Fátima.