From AP:

LISBON, Portugal (AP) – Sister Lucia Marto, the last of three children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in a series of 1917 apparitions, has died, Portuguese media reported Sunday. She was 97.

Sister Lucia, a Roman Catholic nun, had been ill for the past three months and died at the Convent of Carmelitas in Coimbra, 188 kilometres north of Lisbon, TSF radio reported, citing family sources.

Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes called Lucia’s death “very emotional news.”

Lucia and two of her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco, said in 1917 that the Virgin Mary had been appearing to them once a month and predicting events, such as world wars, the reemergence of Christianity in Russia, and one that Church officials say foretold the 1981 attempted assassination of Pope John Paul. The appearances took place on the 13th day of each month in Fatima, a town 110 kilometres north of Lisbon.

The first sighting was May 13, and the appearances took place for another five months, ending abruptly in October that year.

Shortly after, Both Jacinta and Francisco died of respiratory diseases. But Lucia became a nun and penned two memoirs while living in convents.

The Catholic Church later built a shrine in Fatima, which is visited each year by millions of people from around the world. More than 100,000 people from dozens of countries routinely attend the annual commemorations of the sightings.

May she rest in eternal peace.

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Some of the Catholic bloggers covering Sr. Lucia’s death…

Eutychus Fell: Becoming Catholic
Jimmy Akin
The Curt Jester
Real Catholic
Matt Abbott reflects on Sr. Lucia, Fatima, and Islam

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