Posted on: Saturday, August 14, 2004
Masses gather at Lourdes for John Paul
By Angela Doland
Associated Press
LOURDES, France — At first glance, Lourdes looks less like a holy shrine than a religious strip mall, with shops selling rosary beads, Virgin Mary ashtrays or cuckoo clocks that chirp "Ave Maria."
But once you get past the souvenir stands, Roman Catholics say, you sense the healing power of this small town tucked amid the green crests of the Pyrenees. Here, pilgrims visit the grotto where St. Bernadette had visions of the Virgin Mary in 1858 and bathe in its supposedly curative spring.
"This is your first time in Lourdes?" asked 83-year-old Belgian Henry de Meester, who grinned as he was guided around town in a wheelchair by teenage volunteers. "You'll see, you'll be back."
Every year, this town of 15,000 takes in 6 million tourists — about the same number as visit the Eiffel Tower annually. Yesterday, pilgrims from around the world came to Lourdes ahead of Pope John Paul II's weekend visit.
Up to 300,000 people are expected in Lourdes during the pope's two-day visit, whose highlights include a candlelit procession and an open-air Mass.
In anticipation, the neon-lit souvenir shops made room for new merchandise: T-shirts emblazoned with a smiling picture of John Paul as a much younger, more energetic man.
The Vatican says the 84-year-old pope isn't here to seek a cure for his Parkinson's disease and other ailments, but many visitors expressed hope that Lourdes will bring him strength.
"He is coming as a pilgrim, like all those who are sick," said Ann-Sophie Noreillie, an 18-year-old Girl Scout in Lourdes to assist the ailing.
Pilgrims holding white candles lined up patiently next to the craggy grotto that made Lourdes famous. Some filled plastic vials with water from the underground spring, while others sat on the ground praying.
Last night, many took leisurely strolls while medical personnel in white smocks guided the ailing back to their hotels for a night of rest.
Since St. Bernadette had her visions and discovered the spring, thousands of people have claimed to have been healed in Lourdes, and the church has recognized 66 cures as miracles.
The last recognized miracle came in 1987, when a French man suffering from multiple sclerosis suddenly found he could walk for the first time in three years.
Other examples: a French man who regained his vision, and an Italian woman whose malignant tumor vanished with no explanation.
Dr. Patrick Theillier, the head of Lourdes' Medical Bureau, is charged with sorting through the cases of people who claim to have been miraculously healed. It is a meticulous, years-long process, with the final decision made by a bishop.
About 500 cases are pending, Theillier said. The criteria are tough: The cure must be sudden, not gradual, and it must be lasting, not simply a remission.
Often, Theillier says, people ask how he reconciles his science with his strong Catholic faith.
"I tell myself that being a doctor doesn't make me any less a man, so why shouldn't I be a believer?" he said. "You must distinguish between faith and reason ... but you don't have to separate them."
Though Lourdes' reputation is built on miracles, most people come as tourists, or simply to pray. And though most are healthy, there are many in wheelchairs, or even on stretchers. They are often accompanied by young guides who wake them, feed them and bathe them.
"We get so many people who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease coming here angry with God, angry at the world," said the Rev. Liam Griffin, who works with English-speaking pilgrims. "They come and they realize that there are other people in a similar situation, and they are able to come to terms and go home at ease. That in itself is the whole miracle of Lourdes."
