Lourdes France

It was Leopold Pene, a third-generation souvenir statue maker and native Lourdois, who helped me reconcile the sacred and profane natures of this city in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Leopold is a retired statue maker, as are most souvenir artisans in Lourdes. The stuff for sale today in the narrow streets outside the Domaine Religieuse, the entire "religious city" of shrines, churches and hospices, is now made chiefly in Italy and Spain, where labor is cheaper.

When Pope Benedict XVI visits this small town in the foothills of the French Pyrenees next weekend, he will follow in the footsteps of millions of pilgrims who have come before him. Like them, he will take Communion, drink from the holy spring and touch the stone at the base of a cliff by the Gave River, where heaven opened to a 14-year-old girl, known as Bernadette, who said she first saw the Virgin Mary there on Feb. 11, 1858. The pope will celebrate the 150th anniversary of St. Bernadette's apparitions, with a pilgrim's heart full of yearning for transformation.

Pope John Paul II struggled through Mass at a French shrine, gasping, trembling and asking aides for help during the 2 1/2-hour service in sizzling heat. More than 300,000 pilgrims packed a field overlooking the Lourdes grotto in the Pyrenees, where a peasant girl said in 1858 that she had visions of a white-clad Virgin Mary. Many pilgrims to Lourdes are sick, handicapped or aged.

Pope John Paul II struggled through Mass at a French shrine, gasping, trembling and asking aides for help during the 2 1/2-hour service in sizzling heat. More than 300,000 pilgrims packed a field overlooking the Lourdes grotto in the Pyrenees, where a peasant girl said in 1858 that she had visions of a white-clad Virgin Mary. Many pilgrims to Lourdes are sick, handicapped or aged.

When Pope Benedict XVI visits this small town in the foothills of the French Pyrenees next weekend, he will follow in the footsteps of millions of pilgrims who have come before him. Like them, he will take Communion, drink from the holy spring and touch the stone at the base of a cliff by the Gave River, where heaven opened to a 14-year-old girl, known as Bernadette, who said she first saw the Virgin Mary there on Feb. 11, 1858. The pope will celebrate the 150th anniversary of St. Bernadette's apparitions, with a pilgrim's heart full of yearning for transformation.

I've read and enjoyed Susan Spano's work for at least a few years and was finally prompted to drop a note of appreciation after the story on Lourdes, France ["Slice of Heaven," Sept. 7]. My wife and I are planning our fifth trip to France next year, and we were debating whether to include Lourdes on our itinerary. Then Spano's article leaps off the front page of the Travel section. Case closed. John J. Flynn Irvine

Pope Benedict XVI is planning numerous trips abroad in the coming year, including visits to the United Nations, Australia, Austria and a shrine in Lourdes, France, the Vatican spokesman said. The first of the pope's confirmed trips will be a Sept. 7-9 visit to Vienna, where he plans to deliver an important speech to diplomats, the Rev. Federico Lombardi said, without elaborating.

The owner of the Queen of Peace Ministry travel agency agreed to notify customers that his spiritual pilgrimage tours have no official connection with the Catholic Church, a prosecutor said. Peter K. Miller operates a travel promotion business advertising spiritual pilgrimages to Lourdes, France; Rome and other religious locations. Miller settled the consumer protection lawsuit without admitting wrongdoing. Deputy Dist. Atty.

Even holy water from the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes, France, can't get by airport security screening passengers for suspicious liquids. Passengers on a new Vatican-backed charter airline had to hand over containers of water collected at Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral to security officials at the airport in southern France before boarding a return flight to Rome, officials for Mistral Air and the airport said, the Italian news agency Apcom reported.

Roman Catholic Cardinal Tomas O Fiaich, the primate of all Ireland and an ardent Irish nationalist, died Tuesday after falling ill on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, the church announced. He was 66. The cardinal, who was head of the church in both the Republic of Ireland and Protestant-dominated Northern Ireland, died of cardiac arrest in a hospital at Toulouse, 95 miles from Lourdes, officials said.

It was Leopold Pene, a third-generation souvenir statue maker and native Lourdois, who helped me reconcile the sacred and profane natures of this city in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Leopold is a retired statue maker, as are most souvenir artisans in Lourdes. The stuff for sale today in the narrow streets outside the Domaine Religieuse, the entire "religious city" of shrines, churches and hospices, is now made chiefly in Italy and Spain, where labor is cheaper.

Pope John Paul II on Saturday led millions of Roman Catholics in prayers devoted to Mary, the mother of Jesus, through a satellite network that reached 29 countries in five continents. The televised event, said to be the most ambitious ever undertaken, marked the opening ceremony of the Marian year, a period designated by the Pope for special devotion to Mary. The period runs from June 7 to Aug. 15, 1988. The ceremony, beamed from St.

I have been to Lourdes, France, twice -- once as a pilgrim in 2001 and last year as a tourist. Susan Spano wrote such a fine article, which caught the essence of Lourdes ["Slice of Heaven," Sept. 7] that I felt as though I were there again. Spano didn't miss a thing. She is right in saying that traveling as a pilgrim gives an insight that is not possible as a tourist. I imagine that is probably true in many other places. Thank you for the article. Spano always captures more than the obvious.