Cova da Iria, in the village of Fátima, in 1917. Two of the children, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, were beatified in 2000 and canonized saints in 2017 by Pope Francis. The apparition of the Heavenly Mother in this small village in the district of Santarém has led hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima each year, many in the hope of receiving healing. Women tended to practice their religion more than men did, as evidenced by church attendance. The image of the Virgin, as well as that of Christ, were commonly displayed, even in labour union offices or on signs in demonstrations. Other aspects of Portuguese folk religion were not approved by the official Church, including witchcraft, magic, and sorcery. Formal religion, folk beliefs, and superstition were frequently jumbled together. Particularly in the isolated villages of northern Portugal, belief in witches, witchcraft, and evil spirits was widespread. Some persons believed in the concept of the "evil eye" and feared those who supposedly possessed it. Again, women were the main practitioners. Almost every village had its "seers," practitioners of magic, and "healers." Evil spirits and even werewolves were thought to inhabit the mountains and byways, and it was believed that people must be protected from them. Children and young women were thought to be particularly vulnerable to the "evil eye." As people became better educated and moved to the city, they lost some of these folk beliefs. But in the city and among educated persons alike, superstition could still be found, even in the early 1990s. Sorcerers, palm readers, and readers of cards had shops, particularly in poorer neighborhoods, but not exclusively so. In short, a strong undercurrent of superstition still remained in Portugal. The formal Church disapproved of superstitious practices but was powerless to do much about them. In contrast to that of Spain, Roman Catholicism in Portugal was softer and less intense. The widespread use of folk practices and the humanization of religion made for a loving though remote God, in contrast to the harshness of the Spanish vision. In Portugal, unlike Spain, God and his saints were imagined as forgiving and serene. In Spain, the expressions depicted on the faces of saints and martyrs were painful and anguished; in Portugal they were complacent, calm, and pleasant. Other Christians Protestantism For most of Portugal's history, few non–Roman Catholics lived in the country;