About the World Apostolate of Fatima

The World Apostolate of Fatima (WAF) is a Public International Association of the Faithful, approved by the Holy See, whose Decree of Erection was made permanent on 7 October 2010, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.


The WAF is the largest global Fatima apostolate with millions of members all over the world. It is present in many countries, including the Philippines, Nigeria, the USA, and England and Wales


The mission of the World Apostolate of Fatima is  to promote the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church, strict adherence to the tenets of the Gospel, and the personal sanctification of its members through faithful compliance with Our Lady’s message at Fatima. The WAF invites the faithful to accept Our Lady’s requests for prayer, penance, the offering of sacrifices—particularly those encountered in fulfilling the duties of one’s state in life—daily recitation of the Rosary, and the Eucharistic reparation of the Five First Saturdays. 


In England, the WAF (The World Apostolate of Fatima) began in 1981, was recognised by the Bishops’ Conference in 1982, and was formally approved by the Bishops’ Conference in 2004. Since then the WAF has been included every year in the Catholic Directory for England and Wales.

The WAF In England and Wales


On 21 May 2002, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham wrote that the Apostolate was “much appreciated” in his Diocese, and that he was glad to commend it for promoting pilgrimages to Fatima, the apostolate of prayer, and the recitation of the Rosary, especially in people’s homes.


In 2011, Fr Gerard Kelly succeeded the late Mgr Thomas Fallon, as parish priest of St Francis of Assisi church, Handsworth, Birmingham, and as the World Apostolate’s Spiritual Director for England and Wales. He has now been succeeded by Canon Jason Jones, of Sacred Heart Catholic church in Morriston, Swansea.


WAF England and Wales is fully recognised and

approved by the Conference of Bishops of England &

Wales - Archbishop Mark O’ Toole is the Bishop Patron of

WAF England and Wales


Please contact us via this link if you wish to be put on a list to receive updates via our newsletter. More information about different aspects of our work can be found at the links above.


ORIGIN & EARLY BEGINNINGS


The WAF arose in 1947 in the United States, through the joint initiative of Fr Harold Colgan and John Haffert. It was originally called the Blue Army and rapidly spread all over the world with millions of members and national centres in various countries. In the 1980s its name was changed to the World Apostolate of Fatima, since this more correctly reflects its universal character and purpose. Its international headquarters are in Fatima, in the beautiful pilgrim guests’ house, Domus Pacis (“House of Peace”).


In 2004, there were over 50 nations in which the Bishops’ Conference or one or more Bishops had recognised the Apostolate, and some 50 more where the Apostolate was commencing with individual members and prayer cells.


OUR PURPOSE


The main goals of the World Apostolate of Fatima are to spread the Message of Fatima and the acceptance of Our Lady’s requests, and also to encourage active WAF

membership.

THE NATURE OF THE WORLD APOSTOLATE OF FATIMA

The WAF is self-governing in each country, and seeks to promote the true understanding and acceptance of Our Lady’s message, in a spirit of fidelity to the commandments of God and obedience to the Church. It always operates only with the approval of the Bishop’s Conference or the local Ordinary, and the permission of the parish priest.

Want to be involved?

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL

A Public International Association of the Christian faithful is an association of people erected by the Holy See, which alone can receive a mission to teach Christian doctrine in the name of the Church, promote public worship or pursue a purpose which by nature is reserved to ecclesiastical authority (canon 301 §1). 


Public associations are able on their own initiative to undertake endeavours in keeping with their own character and according to their statutes, under the higher direction of the competent ecclesiastical authority. As a public association, the members act in the name of the Church when fulfilling the purpose of the association, and they commit themselves to become faithful witnesses of the Catholic faith in their families, at work, in their parishes and communities, participating in this way in the “New Evangelisation”.


Vatican Council II, and later post-conciliar teaching, has given special attention to the new forms of association of the Christian faithful and their participation in the life of the Church. In his Apostolic letter,Novo millennio ineunte, Blessed John Paul II wrote about the great importance of “the promotion of forms of associations, whether of the more traditional kind or the newer ecclesial movements, which continue to give the Church a vitality that is God’s gift and a true “Springtime of the Spirit” (46). 


The Apostolate’s spirituality is simply to live Our Lady’s message, and to cause it to be lived. The meaning of the message was defined in the following words by the former Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Alberto do Amaral (1916-2005):


“To know the message is to know the Gospel, to live the message is to live the Gospel. To accept the Message is to accept Revelation as interpreted by the authentic Magisterium of the Church. There is almost no article of the Faith of the Church which is not reaffirmed, explicitly or implicitly, in the message ofFatima, understanding this in its widest and deepest sense”. (From Bishop Amaral’s Prologue, dated 13 August 1991, to the work by Fr Fernando Leite, SJ, Francisco of Fatima, p. 5).

BLESSED POPE JOHN PAUL II’S TEACHING ON THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA

“In the light of a Mother’s love we understand the whole message of the Lady of Fatima … who desires everyone’s salvation and cannot keep silence on what undermines it. 


“The Lady of the message seems to have read with special insight the ‘signs of the times’, the signs of our times.


“Consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother means consecrating this world to the pierced heart of the Saviour, bringing it back to the very source of its redemption [which] is always greater than man’s sins and the ‘sin of the world’. The power of the Redemption is infinitely superior to the whole range of evil in man and in the world.” (Homily, Fatima 13 May 1982)


“In the very heart of the message that came from Fatima we find a powerful warning about errors based on the denial of God and the attempt to cut off mankind completely from him” (on returning to Rome from Fatima, 24 May 1982). 


“As we observe the signs of the times in this 20th century, Fatima is certainly one of the greatest.” (Message to the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, 1 October 1997)


“The message is the true Gospel of Christ. It still retains all its timeliness today (our emphasis). Let us receive the light that comes from Fatima, let us be guided by Mary.” (On returning to Rome after the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima, 13 May 2000).

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