Agenzia Fides

Aparecida (Agenzia Fides) - The National Shrine of Aparecida, which is located in the northern city of Aparecida (São Paulo State), welcomed a total of 10.885.878 million visitors in 2011. This is what the Episcopal Conference of Brazil reports, noting that the year 2011 saw a movement of 505,705 devotees more compared to the year 2010. The month which registered the highest number of visitors was the month of October, with 1,235,242,000 million in pilgrimage.
The busiest day of the year, on November 13, the Sanctuary hosted nearly 200,000 devotees. On that occasion, a long weekend, the sanctuary welcomed young people from all parts of Brazil for the third National Youth Pilgrimage, when there was the delivery of the symbols of World Youth Day (WYD).
Even during the holidays, pilgrims preferred the world's largest Marian shrine. In a climate of fraternity, over 1 million people visited the shrine in the month of July. For the rector of the National Shrine, the Redemptorist, Father Darci Nicioli, C.Ss.R. the sanctuary closed the year with many blessings. "The year 2011 was a blessed year. We saw a high turnout of pilgrims even in the days during the week, this forces us to rethink about reception. The sanctuary is always ready to receive the sons and daughters of the Mother of God", said Fr. Darci.
In the first half of the year, the sanctuary received more than 4 million visitors. In the second half 6.616756 million were registered. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 05/01/2012)