According to IP, the “Safe Pilgrimage - Fátima 2025” campaign will be carried out on the roads of the districts of Aveiro, Coimbra, Leiria and Santarém, and will include awareness-raising actions and direct support for pilgrims and joint information actions, in coordination with various entities, in order to implement preventive measures that reduce the risk of road accidents, in particular, the risk of being run over.

A source from IP told Lusa that this year the campaign was brought forward due to the holidays (April 25 and May 1), and it is expected that pilgrims will start the walk to Fátima earlier, and due to the death of Pope Francis, given the possibility of there being a greater number of pilgrims.

“The roads used by pilgrims have a significant volume of traffic, where in some cases high speeds are observed, substantially increasing their exposure to risk, increasing the severity of the consequences of a possible accident”, said IP, highlighting that “it is essential to adopt safe behaviours and use alternative routes through secondary roads with less road traffic”.

IP said that it “collaborates in the creation and information of alternative routes to the sections with the most road traffic and implements a set of road conditions on the main routes used in the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Fátima”.

In addition to these restrictions, the company will “be on the ground with teams that will travel the main routes”, and “these teams will have the mission of supporting pilgrims, providing information to drivers and reinforcing the signage of the detours implemented and, if necessary, adapting or creating restrictions depending on the times of greater or lesser influx of pilgrims”.

According to the same source, around 30 IP workers will be involved.

The IP also called for compliance with road rules and the adoption of safe behaviour by pilgrims traveling on foot and drivers.

For the former, he recommends, for example, that they walk on alternative roads to the complementary and main routes and always wear reflective clothing, day or night, and that the route on foot should be done “always on the shoulder, in single file, as far away from the road as possible and in the opposite direction to traffic”.

For drivers, they advise, among other things, to pay extra attention on the road and reduce speed when seeing groups of walkers.

The pilgrimage on May 12 and 13 to the Sanctuary of Fátima will be presided over by Brazilian Cardinal Jaime Spengler, Metropolitan Archbishop of Porto Alegre and president of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil and the Latin American Episcopal Council.