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More than 30,000 pilgrims are expected in Lourdes for the Aug. 15 feast day.
St. Bernadette Soubirous is the renowned visionary of Lourdes. She was born into a poor family in Lourdes, France, in 1844 and was baptized with the name Mary Bernard.
Speaking on a rainy Sunday in Rome from the window of the Apostolic Palace to the crowd huddled under umbrellas below, the pope said that he wanted to express the closeness “of the entire Church to all those who are sick or frail.”
On Feb. 11, the Catholic Church celebrates the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, recalling a series of 18 appearances that the Blessed Virgin Mary made to a 14-year-old French peasant girl, Saint Bernadette Soubirous.
When she traveled to the small French town of Lourdes 14 years ago, Sister Bernadette Moriau didn’t know that she would be miraculously cured.
How a young French Catholic overcame the limits of the coronavirus lockdown.
Pope Francis asked the Virgin Mary to intercede for an end to “this terrible pandemic” as he recited the rosary with Marian shrines worldwide via videolink May 30.
Pope Francis told those who are sick and suffering Friday that the world needs their prayers.