Lifestyle FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2017 Rent-a-pilgrim to walk to Fatima for $2,700

arlos Gil is a "payer-off of promises," at charismatic pope close to the people," the least that is the way the Roman requests for pilgrimages by proxy "came ear- CCatholic refers to himself. But he is lier than usual," Gil said. more commonly known as a "rent-a-pilgrim". The 52-year-old Portuguese national takes on It's a scam pilgrimages by proxy-in the name of others- He said he makes "two or three pilgrim- especially Catholics unable because of sick- ages a year" and "each is always for one per- ness to undertake the journey or too busy or son". Clients, all Portuguese-speaking, con- lazy for the week-long spiritual walk to the tact him through his site peregrino.org. Once central Portuguese town of Fatima. He can terms have been agreed upon, the client This file photo shows Swedish journalist and best-selling author David Lagercrantz at his be hired for 2,500 euros ($2,700). wires him the amount and he takes off. Upon apartment in . — AFP Gil is one of the nearly one million completion, Gil sends a certificate with offi- Catholics who will descend at the weekend cial stamps from each stop along the route. upon the town where three child shepherds Once the owner of a small computer compa- In new reported visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ny, Gil now has business cards listing his ago. Two of the children will be declared occupation as a "payer-off of promises" and saints on May 13 during a visit by Pope real estate agent. Francis. But Gil almost certainly will be the "My colleagues know what I do, they book, author steps out only pilgrim to make the trip on foot and laugh about it a lot, a real estate agent who invoice his walk. "It's not about making mon- wants to become a saint," he said. His parents ey but being in the service of others," he said had intended him for the priesthood, but his in an interview at his home before setting off. family's hurried departure from Angola, a for- of Larsson's shadow "It's a deal we strike with God". mer Portuguese colony, during the country's The 2,500-euro price is a fixed rate-the fight for independence in 1975 extinguished n the cult Millennium crime fiction series, character. "I would have created a softer hero- lighting of a candle costs an additional 25 those plans. Gil's current occupation, howev- created as a ine, someone nicer, more delicate and sensitive euros, while asking him to recite the rosary is er, has attracted "violent criticism" on social Itattooed hacker out to get revenge on her than Stieg Larsson did," he admits. But he another 250 euros. The rate also goes up if media. "People are sometimes very aggres- persecutors. But in the latest book, author David acknowledges she makes for a good read. the client wants Gil to shuffle the last 400 sive. They don't know me," he said. Lagercrantz appears to have put his own stamp "Lisbeth's personality, her iconic personality, meters on his knees, from the shrine's public He has also drawn the ire of Rodrigo on the invincible character, throwing her into needs problems. So of course I have to give her square to the chapel where the visions are Cerqueira, president of the Association for prison. "The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye", tons of problems. And in some ways she's also said to have taken place in 1917. A pilgrim- Friends of Walks of Fatima, who said that the fifth Millennium novel, is due to hit book- suited to being an underdog." age, made for oneself or others, can be for being a "payer-off of promises, it's a disgrace. stores on September 7 in 26 countries, including And that, he says, is what readers will see in various reasons: to fulfil a promise to God, as They take advantage of people". "Given their the United States, France, Germany and Britain. the fifth installment, the second of three he's a request for healing, a baby or professional prices, it's a scam," Cerqueira said. Gil "I'm waiting for the storm," Lagercrantz said signed on to write. Millennium was the brain- success, to give thanks when a request has declined to say much about who this year's with a nervous laugh during a recent interview child of Larsson, a left-wing activist from a work- been granted or to atone for sins. pilgrimage is for, only that it is a woman who at his fashionable Stockholm apartment. ing-class family in 's far north-a sharp "For me, it's a passion. I am Catholic, but if contacted him through the popular Swedish publishing house Norstedts has gone contrast to Lagercrantz's upbringing in I had been born in Saudi Arabia, I would be WhatsApp messaging service. "On principle, I to great lengths to keep details of the latest Stockholm's intelligentsia. Lagercrantz, mean- Muslim and would make pilgrimages to never ask them about their reasons to avoid installment shrouded in secrecy, given what's while, rose to fame in Sweden in 2011 after pen- Mecca," Gil said. Staff in hand, backpack on passing judgment," he said. — AFP at stake: the previous book, "The Girl in the ning football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic's official his shoulders, Gil leaves his small white villa Spider's Web" from 2015, also written by biography. near the coastal town of Cascais, about 30 Lagercrantz, sold six million copies in 47 coun- kilometers from the capital Lisbon. It is 7:30 tries. The first three books, penned by the late Kill Lisbeth Salander? am and raining but Gil wants to make it in Stieg Larsson, sold 80 million copies in 50 After Larsson's death and the ensuing wild enough time to see the pontiff, after seeing countries. success of his trilogy, Norstedts decided-with Pope Benedict XVI in Fatima in 2010. Gil's sis- Emotional and high-strung, Lagercrantz, 54, the agreement of his only heirs, his father and ter Maria Jose, 50, will walk with him. is full of contradictions: he at once fascinates, brother-to continue the series with a new annoys and elicits sympathy, he's fond of author. Lagercrantz was recruited and the Crazy idea superlatives and gesticulates wildly when fourth book was generally well-received. With By taking small country lanes far removed speaking. With the book's release date looming, the fifth one, he wants to win over those uncon- from the main roads, Gil will arrive at the he admits to having mixed feelings. He's vinced about his worthiness. One of them is Eva shrine six days later, the day before the papal relieved at having finished the manuscript, but Gabrielsson, Larsson's partner of 32 years until visit. He will have walked 200 kilometers, also terrified by critics, some of whom won't for- his death. spending nights in private homes or under- give him for taking over the series from compa- The couple was not married and Larsson left neath the triot Larsson, who died suddenly of a heart no will, so his estate went to his brother and stars. "I make no physical preparations attack at age 50 in 2004 before the series gained father. Gabrielsson lost a bitter battle with them before the pilgrimage," said Gil, a father of global fame. to manage his work. She has from the beginning two grown sons, sporting a salt and pepper "There are a lot of translators who have just been critical of the decision to continue the tril- beard, who admits to being "lazy". "It's spiri- received it via an encrypted link, it's all very ogy, slamming it as a purely money-making tual. We are in a state of grace". secretive. Now we're beginning to get some project and blasting the choice of Lagercrantz Gil believes there are very few Catholics, if feedback about the book and, fingers crossed as author. "That's the only shadow over this any at all, offering the same services in his and touch wood, it seems promising." project, which has otherwise been so enjoy- home country, but he has attracted imitators able," Lagercrantz said. in Germany where "rent-a-pilgrims" advertise A heroine with problems "If you think of Stieg Larsson's books, I know services online. He said the "crazy idea" came Very little has been revealed about the plot now, in hindsight, that it was good for his body to him one day in 2001, to "revive this of the fifth book. As with the preceding tome, of work" to continue the series. "A whole new ancient tradition from the Middle Ages" details are trickling out, drop by drop. "All I can generation has discovered his books... and his where rich noblemen lacking time or in poor say is that I started out by putting her in prison, characters," he said. And rest assured, Lisbeth physical condition hired pilgrims by proxy. in the worst kind of women's prison, where she Salander will live on. "She'll continue to live on The practice remains largely secret as the Carlos Gil starts his walk to Fatima with a immediately encounters quite a few problems," in one way or another. Lisbeth Salander is not Catholic Church does not condone paying backpack on his shoulders, in Cascais, Lagercrantz says without divulging any more. In going to be killed off right away, because she's a people to act as a proxy pilgrim. It is much outskirts of Lisbon. — AFP addition to Salander, readers will also reac- person who somehow reaches into our hearts more common for the annual hajj, however. quaint themselves with investigative journalist and souls." As for Lagercrantz, what will he do According to the Church's Message of Fatima . after he's written book six? "I'll move on and find movement, over 40,000 pilgrims are expect- Lagercrantz says bringing Salander to life, a new challenge." — AFP ed to make the walk to the sanctuary and to with her troubled past, is a challenge for him-he see the pope. With the visit by Francis, "a would have written an entirely different leading