From 6 to 10 October, the Grand Master of the Order of Malta visited Portugal.

The program included a visit to the seat of the Portuguese Association of the Order of Malta in Lisbon, where the Grand Master had the opportunity to visit the exhibition about the Order history and its hospitalier works in Portugal and around the world. It followed a meeting with the board of the Portuguese Association in which the status of the life of the Portuguese Association was presented with a special focus on the participation of the Order in the World Youth Days 2023 in Lisbon.

The holy mass was celebrated with the presence of Fra’ Ruy Gonçalo de Villas-Boas, Fra’ João Augusto Esquivel Freire de Andrade and of a significant number of Portuguese knights and dames and volunteers, who wished to meet the Grand Master, this being his first visit to the country since his election in May 2023.

On the following day the Grand Master, the President of the Portuguese association António Luís Calheiros Ferraz, the Ambassador of the Order of Malta in Portugal Giuseppe Maria Nigra, and a delegation of the Portuguese Association visited the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. The visit to the shrine included a guided tour to the Museum where the Grand Master had the opportunity to look at the crown of Our Lady of Fatima in which is embedded the bullet that hit Saint John Paul II during the attack at Saint Peter’s square on the 13th of May 1981, the day of Our Lady of Fatima.

After the Museum, the Grand Master went on a visit to the shrine where several details of the religious celebrations, architecture and art were presented. The visit ended with a holy mass at the “Capelinha” where the Virgin Mary appeared to the three child shepherds in 1917.