French bishops invite pope to visit Lourdes in August

Published: 2004-04-23

ROME (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II has been invited to Lourdes, France, for the 150th anniversary of the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The president of the French bishops' conference, Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard, and Bishop Jacques Perrier of Tarbes and Lourdes, made public their formal invitation to the pope April 22. A Vatican delegation headed by Bishop Renato Boccardo, organizer of papal trips abroad, was in Lourdes to study details of the proposed pilgrimage, reported the French Catholic daily, La Croix, April 22. According to the French bishops' conference, the visit would be around Aug. 15, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes would mark the 150th anniversary of Pope Pius IX's proclamation of the dogma that Mary was conceived without sin. Whether the pope will actually make the trip will not be known until the Vatican makes an official announcement.

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