The National Scout Body (CNE) will return to Fatima on September 26 and 27, 2026, to hold its National Pilgrimage, marking the return to this sanctuary ten years after the last edition. The gathering will take place under the motto "Do you feel atPEACE?" and aims to challenge scouts to embrace themselves as builders and messengers of peace, starting from the personal dimension through listening, forgiveness and reconciliation, to the commitment with family, community and society.
The last National Pilgrimage took place on October 8 and 9, 2016, gathering about 30,000 scouts from approximately 500 groups. On that occasion, the motto was "10,100 FM – Tune in to the Trails of Mercy," a reference to the Jubilee of Mercy and the preparation for the Centenary of the Apparitions of Fatima. Participants walked along pedestrian routes with distances between four and eight kilometres, participated in moments of prayer and reflection, and the groups made their consecration to Our Lady at the Chapel of Apparitions, with more than 4,500 tents set up to accommodate the scouts.
Ten years later, CNE again chooses Fatima as the meeting point for Portuguese Catholic Scouting. If in 2016 the path was marked by mercy, in 2026 the challenge centres on peace. The gathering also recovers Baden-Powell's ideal of leaving the world a little better than it was found, reinforcing the spiritual and social dimension of this scout journey.
