Number of Asian pilgrims visiting Fátima surpassed those from the Americas in 2025

The shrine to Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal, one of the world’s leading Catholic pilgrimage sites, received nearly 6.5 million pilgrims in 2025 during the Jubilee of Hope.

These figures were released following the 47th Meeting of Portuguese Hoteliers, an event organized by the shrine itself that brings together professionals from the region’s hotel and tourism sector.

According to a statement released after the meeting, the number of pilgrims increased compared with 2024, when 6.2 million visitors were recorded.

The 2025 total also exceeded the 6.3 million recorded in 2019 — the pre-COVID-19 pandemic benchmark year — after the surge from the 2017 centenary of the apparitions had already faded.

Specifically, a total of 5,608 groups of pilgrims registered in 2025, 1,276 of whom were Portuguese and 4,332 of whom were foreign.

The pilgrims came from a total of 84 countries, and Europe, Asia, and the Americas were the most represented continents.

For the first time, Asia surpassed the Americas in the number of pilgrims: North and South American countries accounted for 20% of the total, while Asian countries reached 22.3%.

Indonesia and Vietnam are included in the list of the 10 countries with the most pilgrims, surpassing other Asian nations that are usually on that list, such as the Philippines.

This same analysis found that the numbers from Spain, Poland, and Italy stand out in Europe. In Asia, the countries of Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines had the most pilgrims; and in the Americas, the United States, Brazil, and Mexico are prominent.

Among the Portuguese pilgrim groups, the dioceses with the greatest representation were Porto and that of the country’s capital, Lisbon.

The information booths handled 2% more inquiries than in 2024, serving a total of 424,206 people: 57,592 Portuguese and 366,614 foreign visitors.

The shrine’s cultural offerings have also generated increasing interest among pilgrims and visitors, surpassing 1 million admissions to the museums and exhibits in 2025. The house of Francisco and Jacinta Marto received 429,930 visitors, and the house of Lucia de Jesus welcomed 421,343 pilgrims.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.