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    VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Two of the three children to whom the Virgin Mary appeared at Fatima in 1917 will be beatified on April 9, 2000.

    Bishop Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva of Leiria-Fatima, Portugal, made that announcement on October 13, the anniversary of the final apparition at Fatima and the famous "miracle of the sun." Francois and Jacinta Marto, who died in 1919 and 1920, respectively, will be beatified in Rome rather than at the Fatima shrine, the bishop announced. Vatican sources indicated that although Pope John Paul II had expressed his willingness to travel to Fatima for the ceremony, his busy schedule for the Jubilee Year made it difficult to arrange another trip.

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