Vatican official: Papal trip to Lourdes shows unity with suffering

Published: 2004-08-13

PARIS (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II's pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, is a sign of his solidarity "with the world that suffers," said German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a top Vatican official. The cardinal said he thought that during the Aug. 14-15 visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, famous for its miracles, the pope would pray not for personal physical healing, but for "maternal consolation and interior strength" for himself and for all who suffer. An interview with Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, appeared in the Aug. 13 edition of Le Figaro newspaper's weekly magazine. "Suffering from illness and from old age," the cardinal said, the pope "goes to pray at this Marian shrine in a gesture of solidarity with the world that suffers." The gift of interior strength enables a person "to transform suffering, which is a negation of the forces of life, into love and the gift of oneself," he said. When someone is sick, it is natural to ask God why, he said. The answer is almost never clear, but prayer and pilgrimages like those to Lourdes "help us ask for strength from the Lord so that we can enter with our suffering into his suffering, which he transformed into love."

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .