Musician Pedro Barroso, lawyer Carlos Tomé and Father Mario de Oliveira, of Lixa, are three prominent personalities who have given the petition against the Pope’s visit to Fátima, to give credence to the miracle of 100 years ago, their backing
“It is not a religious criticism, each person believes in what they want to believe in, but it is evident that the miracle is a scam, a farce, a one-hundred-year-old poor performance that should have been unmasked already and that nowadays has become a business”, Pedro Barroso told Lusa News Agency.
Named ‘Against the credibility of the ‘miracle’ of Fatima’ the petition is addressed to the Bishop of Leiria, the Patriarchate of Lisbon, the Apostolic Nuncio and the Portuguese Episcopal Conference.
Among the earliest signees of the petition are also anthropologists João Carlos Lopes and Carlos Simões Nuno, Tomar University Professor Luís Mota Figueira, and journalist André Nuno Lopes.
“What we think is that, by the Pope visiting Fátima, it gives credence and ratifies a situation that started out as a lie and today is essentially a business”, Pedro Barroso explained.
The musician clarified that the petition is not against any specific religion and that they are “not the keepers of knowledge”, but the petitioners simply feel “it is time to discuss, in a less impassioned and more pragmatic fashion, what
happened.”