Pope will visit Paris and Lourdes in September
Posted: Saturday, July 5, 2008, 8:15 (BST)
Pope Benedict will visit Paris and the shrine of Lourdes in southwest France in September, the Vatican said on Friday.
The main purpose of the trip from Sept. 12 to 15 would be to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the date in 1858 when the Madonna was said to have appeared to a peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous.
Lourdes is Roman Catholicism's premier shrine and the Church has recognised more than 65 cases of what it calls miraculous healings among thousands of pilgrims who have said they left Lourdes free of their ailments.
In Paris, Benedict will meet President Nicolas Sarkozy and hold several religious events, including a service in Notre Dame cathedral and an open-air mass at the Invalides Esplanade.
He will also meet members of France's Jewish community.
The pope leaves later this month for Australia to preside at the Church's World Day of Youth.
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Added: Saturday, July 5, 2008, 10:00 (BST)
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