Of Fátima, False Popes, Maddie and eternal questions

“You must question. You mustn’t accept anything at face value. Use intelligence by gathering evidence, and come up with your own conclusions”. He wasn’t trying to impress. He was explaining the central philosophies of Buddha and Einstein at the time… but, you don’t need long in this man’s company to realise there’s a lot more to come from the writer within.

Last year, when publishers «Guerra & Paz» – the same that published a PJ policeman’s controversial book on Madeleine McCann – released Len Port’s book to coincide with the Pope’s visit to Fátima, Port, 69, hadn’t yet discovered “the beauty of blogging”.

He now runs two regular blogs – one on Algarve news, the other on Algarve flora and fauna – and is deftly learning the myriad tricks of the blogger’s trade.

“It’s all in the keywords!” He twinkles, delightedly. “If you can bring together enough good keywords in one story, you can get yourself read all over the world!”

The day we visited, he was putting the finishing touches to a real gem. A story that united Prince William and his bride-to-be, with the Algarve, a Royal honeymoon “muddle” and Madeleine McCann. Don’t ask how – check out the blog – but considering that the last story he covered mentioning Madeleine was read “by thousands of people all over the world”, this latest one would almost certainly have attracted similar attention.

Over Christmas, for example, Port checked out his blog statistics to discover that he had readers in Spain, Germany, the UK, the US, Mexico, Singapore, Croatia and… Finland.

“When I saw Finland, I thought, “I’ve made it! Father Christmas is reading my blog!”

But though humour plays a huge part in Len Port’s life, truth is central. He’s known as a journalist who always writes the truth (at least that’s what he tells people!) and truth is at the basis of all his work.

The first book he wrote after arriving here from travels across the globe - reporting from many of the world’s “hot spots” - was the successful tourist guide: «Get to Know the Algarve».

“I wrote that for the same reason I wrote the Fátima book. I wanted to know the whole story”.

Thus «Get to Know the Algarve» has everything: history, geography, natural history, the climate, politics.

There were a few good guide books around at the time – but Port “wanted to answer all the questions that visitors would be asking”.

“Hugely helped” by his companion for the last 30 years, villa holidays specialist Joan Gay, he set out on a marathon of discovery, and the book has been reprinted and updated several times since it was first published in 1993.

His obsession with Fátima, however, was very different, in that it started out as one thing – and ended up really as another.

“Initially, I didn’t delve into the story of Fátima with the intention of telling people about it or writing this book”.

“I wanted to find out about what happened - or is said to have happened - at Fátima in 1917, plus how the story developed since then to the present day. Almost everything written about Fátima over the years has been from a blinkered Catholic point of view.

“I wanted to know the views of as many relevant people as possible, both inside and outside the Catholic Church, before I formulated my own conclusions.

“As I say in the preface to the book: Readers will not share all of the opinions expressed in this book. It is inevitable that some of the contents will evoke disagreement, disapproval and maybe even stronger reactions. But the aim of the book is to add light rather than generate more heat. It is not a book for people who are intolerant of opinions that differ from their own. It is meant to be factually informative and thought-provoking without being deliberately offensive. It is really a book for those who are inquisitive and open-minded, who like questioning, evaluating and making up their own minds”.

“The book focuses on Fátima, but it is really about the much broader subject of belief in, or rejection of, the idea of the supernatural.

“Maybe that’s why I haven’t been flooded with publishing offers! Maybe the bulk of the book’s potential readers are young people whose minds are still fertile ground.

“I like to think my mind is still receptive to all shades of opinion, but I prefer to always apply reason rather than accept dogma.”

At no time in the book does Port give any inkling as to his own take on the story, but that’s just as you’d expect in a journalistic investigation.

Certainly, from the point of view of a window onto an extremely complex moment in Portugal’s history – both socially and politically – the book is a veritable encyclopedia and encourages what Port (along with Buddha and Einstein) advocates: ask questions!

Did those three little Shepherd children really see the Angel of Peace, followed by the Virgin Mary?

Did tens of thousands of followers truly see the Miracle of the Sun? Or was the whole thing an elaborate plot by the Catholic Church to manipulate people and keep them under control at a time when Communism was spreading?

And has the Vatican been infiltrated by a group of anti-Christ Popes, backed by Freemasons, since the 1960s?

Very much a real-life «Da Vinci Code» based on transparent investigation, one can only hope Len Port’s book succeeds in finding a mother-tongue publisher so that more people, beyond the Portuguese-speaking, can formulate their own answers to these eternal questions.

Meantime, Guerra & Paz’s version is in short supply, but can be ordered online or via most bookshops.

And for those who think they’d enjoy finding out more about Len Port’s thoughts and investigations into matters Portuguese and Algarvian, there are always his entertaining blogs – developing as their inquiring writer gets more and more into his latest stride.

“You have to keep learning in life – otherwise, what do you do?” It’s not really a question. “Did I mention that I am also really into painting right now? Sunrises and sunsets. They are always so different - and the colours are absolutely fantastic!…”