Lourdes: What to know about one of Catholicism’s most famous pilgrimage sites

Pope Leo XIV plans to visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France on Sunday

PARIS -- PARIS (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes this weekend as part of his four-day apostolic journey to France, which is the first official papal state visit to the country in 18 years.

The site near the Spanish border draws millions of pilgrims annually, including sick and disabled believers hoping for a cure from the famed spring water in the Lourdes grotto. Here is what to know about Lourdes, one of Catholicism’s most important pilgrimage sites.

The popularity of Lourdes is intrinsically linked to Bernadette Soubirous. A young girl who came from a modest background, she was uneducated, with no knowledge of religion, and suffered from asthma when she reported 18 visions of a lady dressed in white in the Grotto of Massabielle near Lourdes, between February and July 1858. The Catholic Church later accepted that the visions were of the Virgin Mary.

Bernadette’s visions, and the subsequent discovery of allegedly healing spring waters, led the church to build a sanctuary there.

In 1866, Bernadette left Lourdes to join the convent of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, where she lived until her death at age 35. She was canonized in 1933 by Pope Pius XI to become Saint Bernadette.

Believers say that during the ninth apparition of the lady dressed in white, Bernadette heard her say: “Go and drink at the spring and wash yourself there.”

Millions of pilgrims and visitors have since journeyed to Lourdes to drink and wash in this water, which has no therapeutic or specific properties. Lourdes water is free to access from the sanctuary’s taps and drinking fountains. Many pilgrims take some back home.

Lourdes became a major pilgrimage destination after the Catholic Church officially recognized Bernadette's visions as Apparitions in 1862. From then on, millions of pilgrims from all over the world began flocking to the Grotto of Massabielle.

As well as being a holy site, Lourdes attracts around 3 million pilgrims a year, including approximately 60,000 sick and disabled pilgrims. According to the town hall, it's the fourth most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world, after the Vatican, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, and the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil.

The Grotto of Massabielle is one of the 22 sites making up the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. The sanctuary is home to numerous places of worship, including three basilicas: the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, which is the oldest, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, and the underground Basilica of Saint Pius X.

Pilgrims can also follow one of the two Stations of the Cross, featuring cast-iron or marble statues, before taking a dip in the sanctuary’s baths. There, they can immerse themselves in the 12 degrees Celsius (53.6 degrees Fahrenheit) water from the spring discovered in the Grotto of the Apparitions.

Among the millions traveling to Lourdes, many seek physical and spiritual healing, hoping for a miracle.