Pope to lead rosary, celebrate Mass during August trip to Lourdes

Published: 2004-07-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With the recitation of the rosary, watching a torchlight procession and celebrating Mass, Pope John Paul II will make an August pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. The pilgrimage on the weekend of the Aug. 15 feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary also is being billed as part of the Catholic Church's celebration of the 150th anniversary of the formal proclamation of the Immaculate Conception. On Dec. 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX solemnly proclaimed that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin. Less than four years later, 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous had visions of Mary in a grotto at Lourdes. Mary told the girl, "I am the Immaculate Conception." The grotto, the church and the spring at Lourdes, famed as a place of healing, have become one of the most popular Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world. Pope John Paul visited the shrine in 1983. During his weekend visit, the pope will stay at the Accueil Notre Dame guesthouse, a medically equipped facility for disabled and ill pilgrims.

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