The Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) signed a collaboration protocol with the Shrine of Fatima on 14 October. On this occasion, the conference ‘War and Peace in the Century and in the Message of Fatima’ was also given by José Miguel Sardica, historian and UCP professor.
The President of UCP, Isabel Capeloa Gil, said that this agreement ‘is much more orientated towards the future, starting from Fatima, in order to understand the religious phenomenon, the Catholic Christian message, in a transformed cultural context’.
‘Fatima is clearly geared towards a pacifist message and, in the times we live in, with the proliferation of conflicts on a global scale, also in social and political terms, this message is particularly important,’ said Isabel Capeloa Gil.
According to the Rector of the Shrine, Father Carlos Cabecinhas, ‘this protocol has a future horizon for both institutions’.
After signing the protocol, José Miguel Sardica reflected on the message of Fatima and its role in the past and present, emphasising its ‘centrality and relevance’.
‘Fatima is a historical continuum, uniting the past with the present and the future in its multiple ideological, political and utopian dimensions,’ defended the historian, adding that the universal phenomenon of Fatima goes beyond geographical and political borders.
‘The essence of the message of Fatima is, in short, an expression of the eternal, inside and outside each one of us, in the encouragement of peace against all forms of tension, division, hatred and wars,’ he said.
About the protocol:
In addition to formalising and continuing the collaboration between the two institutions, which have been working together on various initiatives and projects, particularly in the areas of theology, history and heritage, the agreement provides for the creation of the Chair ‘Fatima Studies: Religion and Society’, which will be jointly directed by UCP and the Shrine.
The initiatives formalised in this protocol also include the integration of qualified human resources from the Shrine and UCP in the scientific and educational projects of the respective institutions, as well as collaboration in artistic creation projects and the conservation and restoration of the Shrine's heritage.
