Our Lady's apparitions and prodigies at Fatima prove the existence of God
This argument is used in the debate Does God exist?.
This argument is a justification of Miracles attest to God's direct intervention.
Summary
Quotes
“It's around midday on October 13, 1917. Usually deserted, the Cova da Iria, a poor, remote meadow not far from the small village of Fatima, 160km north of Lisbon, is packed with people. Seventy thousand people trample over the rain-soaked ground. They all gaze up at the sky, awaiting the prodigy announced three months ago by three illiterate children: Lucia, Jacintha and Francisco. [...] And so begins, before a stunned crowd, the most spectacular, grandiose and astonishing prodigy to have occurred since biblical times. The sun begins a frantic, frightening dance that lasts more than ten minutes. A very long time. Numerous photos (some of which are shown below) show the crowd experiencing this event, described as unheard-of and terrifying. The impact of this phenomenon went far beyond the small village of Fatima. First of all, it had repercussions on a national level, as religious persecution came to an end in Portugal, and the faith was renewed. Internationally, years later and miles away, the Fatima shockwave would spread far and wide.”
References
Justifications
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The prodigy performed in front of a large crowd, including journalists, skeptics and a photographer.
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The event took place in 20th-century Europe, and is verifiable and not remote.
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The anticlerical context in Portugal at the time was hostile to the belief in miracles.
Objections
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Fatima is a legend, nothing happened -
The sun's trajectory wasn't really deviated, so there was no miracle.
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Fatima is a fraud
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It's a collective hallucination
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An exceptional meteorological phenomenon
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It's a UFO phenomenon
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Testimonies have not been sufficiently well collected, and some contradict each other: we can therefore say nothing about them
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The Church has never officially confirmed the miraculous nature of this phenomenon.
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The visual phenomena around the sun at Fatima can be explained by the sun's fixation.
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The Fatima phenomena are a parhelia