UNITED NATIONS (CNS) – The message of peace Mary gave to three shepherd children 100 years ago at Fatima, Portugal, is still timely in 2017 and is an ongoing reminder that flashes of the divine are revealed in unexpected places, according to speakers at a U.N. panel.

Before an audience of more than 600 people, speakers explored the peacemaking roles of women, children and religious leaders at the event organized by the Holy See Mission to the United Nations.

Ambassador Alvaro Mendonca Moura, permanent representative of Portugal to the UN noted that the Marian apparitions were met with understandable doubt and active resistance in 1917. But he said today Fatima is a central element of reverence for Portuguese Catholics, an inescapable element of Portuguese identity and an international gathering place for people looking for answers to personal existential questions.

Mendoca said at Fatima a woman brought the message of peace that was addressed to children. At the UN, there is a growing understanding of the peacemaking role of women, he said, and world leaders must guarantee that children grow up in safety and are allowed to become peacemakers.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN, said: “Mary essentially came as an ambassador of peace with a summons for the shepherd children to be key staff members of her permanent mission to all the nations.”