They say doctors, some of them non-believers, said Lucas's recovery could not be explained.

Pope Francis canonised the siblings on Saturday at Fátima.

Lucas was five when he fell 6.5 metres out of a window. By the time he arrivced at hospital he had suffered two heart attacks and was in a deep coma.

Doctors diagnosed a severe traumatic brain injury and a "loss of brain material" from Lucas's frontal lobe.

They said Lucas had little chance of survival. If he did live, they said he would be severely mentally disabled or even in a vegetative state.

Lucas's father Joao Baptista and his mother Lucila Yurie, appeared before reporters at the Catholic shrine in Fatima, Portugal, on Friday.

They have never discussed their son's miraculous cure with the press before.

After being told their son would be unlikely to recover they began to pray to Jesus and Our Lady of Fatima, to whom they said they have "a great devotion".

They also asked the nuns at the Carmelite convent of Campo Mouro to pray for their boy.

When the nuns got the message, Lucas's father said one of them "ran to the relics of Blessed Francisco and Jacinta, which were next to the tabernacle.

She also felt the impulse to pray the following prayer: ‘Shepherds, save this child, who is a child like you'…she also persuaded the other sisters to pray to the little shepherds to intercede for him.

"In the same way, all of us, the family, began to pray to the little shepherds, and two days later, on March 9, Lucas woke up and began to speak, even asking for his little sister."

On the 11th, he left the ICU and was discharged from the hospital a few days later.

"Since that time, Lucas "has been completely well and has no symptoms or after effects.

"He has the same intelligence (as he did before the accident), the same character, everything is the same."

Source

• Thestar.com
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: ToronotStar

Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who died in 1919 are now "Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco". (The third "child", their cousin Lucia, died in 2005.)

Thousands of pilgrims lined Francis's route and tossed petals as his motorcade drove past. Up to a million visitors were expected.

Francis told the people of Portugal that he regarded his visit to Fátima as a pilgrimage of "hope and peace" where he would "present himself to Mary".

He asked for their support in this, saying "I need to feel you close, physically and spiritually, so that we are one heart and one mind".

He also said he hoped Catholics would continue to take notice of the message of peace the children reported 100 years ago

Last Saturday 13 May was the 100th anniversary of the first of our Lady's appearances to Saint Jacinta, Saint Francisco and their cousin Lucia. She was to appear five more times in the following months.

They said she revealed to them three secrets.

Later Lucia wrote these messages down. They foreshadowed the Second World War, hell, the rise and fall of communism and the death of a pope.

Our Lady also urged the children to pray for peace and turn away from sin.

Pope St John Paul II credited Our Lady with saving his life when an assassination attempt was made on him on 13 May 1981.

Source

• The Guardian
• Vatican Radio
• BBC News
• Image: CTV News