Pope thanks God for allowing him to make pilgrimage to Lourdes

Published: 2004-08-18

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II offered God thanks for allowing him to make a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, and offered special thanks to his fellow Poles for "having supported me with your prayers" during the Aug. 14-15 trip. The pope, appearing a bit tired, read only about a quarter of the main Italian text prepared for his Aug. 18 weekly general audience, although he did read the entire texts of his messages of thanks in French and in Polish. The audience was held in the courtyard of the papal summer villa at Castel Gandolfo and, as in weeks past, did not include the usual multilingual summaries of the pope's main address. Greeting French speakers, the pope said, "This morning I want to give thanks to God who, in his benevolence, allowed me to go on pilgrimage to Lourdes," the town in the French Pyrenees where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in 1858 to St. Bernadette Soubirous. Pope John Paul also thanked Mary for "the climate of profound recollection and intense prayer" that surrounded his visit.

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