Thousand flock to see Pope in Portugal

Tens of thousands of pilgrims are flocking to the central Portuguese shrine town of Fatima today for the Pope’s Mass celebrating the anniversary of the day when three shepherd children reported seeing visions of the Virgin.

The Mass is the centrepiece of Benedict XVI’s four-day visit to Portugal.

It follows a candlelit evening prayer service in which the pontiff said he was bringing the suffering “of a wounded humanity, of the problems of the world” to Fatima.

Benedict has spoken repeatedly about the sufferings of the world and even the church during the trip, saying the “sins of the church” were responsible for the clerical sex abuse scandal.

He returns to the Vatican on Friday.