Madeleine's parents to visit holy site

The parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann will make a personal pilgrimage to the holiest site in Portugal today to pray for a miracle.

Gerry and Kate McCann are travelling to the Marian shrine of Fatima to ask for their daughter’s safe return.

The visit may well prove to be the first step in an expected European tour aimed at spreading news of Madeleine’s abduction across the continent.

However, for Kate McCann, the trip will be the fulfilment of a personal ambition to pray at the shrine.

Friends said Mrs McCann had considered making the four-hour trip from Praia da Luz even before Madeleine was abducted and had been set on making the journey ever since.

It will be the first time Mrs McCann, who kept up her vigil in Praia da Luz while her husband was away in the UK on Monday, has left the village since Madeleine was snatched from their holiday apartment on May 3, other than trips to the police station in Portimao to give statements.

The couple say their Catholic faith has sustained them during the recent turmoil.

Mr McCann in particular is said by friends to have found renewed faith in recent days while his wife’s religious belief is long-standing.

Ten days ago, around 300,000 pilgrims flocked to Fatima to mark the 90th anniversary of a vision of the Virgin Mary at the site by three shepherds.

The pilgrimage coincided with the weekend of Madeleine’s fourth birthday, which received coverage across Portugal and around the world.

Among those gathered at Fatima – with a representative of the Pope – were many holding up pictures of Madeleine and praying for her safe return.

The McCanns have also received shows of support across Britain.

On Monday, during a short visit to England, Gerry McCann visited the war memorial in their home village of Rothley, Leicestershire, where wellwishers have tied yellow ribbons and left cards and toys.

The couple’s plight has also prompted EastEnders bosses to rewrite a storyline about a missing baby, the BBC announced yesterday.

Last month, Coronation Street producers announced they were changing a summer storyline about a snatched baby to avoid adding to the family’s distress.

Today, the McCanns will hope to find some comfort as they visit the basilica, north of Lisbon, which attracts millions of pilgrims a year, some choosing to move towards the shrine on their hands and knees as a sign of their devotion.

It was founded after a series of visions of Mary in 1917, by a group of three young shepherd children, Lucia Santos and her cousins Francisco Marto and his six-year-old sister Jacinta.

Mary is said to have revealed three secrets to the children and she is said to have predicted the deaths of Jacinta and Francisco.

A constant feature of services in the village church of Nossa Senhora da Luz in Praia da Luz attended by the McCanns has been the chant: “Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us now.”