Pope Benedict at Lourdes



Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2008

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Well, Pope Benedict did it again! 

This eighty one year old man amazes me. While visiting the grotto at Lourdes on September 14th, he spoke to 150 French Bishops gathered there.  They, along with over 150,000 pilgrims, were celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the appearances of our lady to Saint Bernadette.

He called for a new French Liberte' in their society. This would entail a new French emphasis in religious instruction, vocations, an outreach to youth and a firm defense of the traditional family.

Benedict's address was a challenge to the French church in its radical decline not only in vocations but in the very practice of the Christian faith. France was suffering more acutely than other nations a tragic malaise of Christianity that has inundated Europe.

At one time France was called the favorite daughter of the church; especially with its magnificent Saints, beginning with Saint John of Arc through the seven Jesuit North American martyrs, Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brebeuf and the lay saints Rene Goupil and Jean la Lande, culminating in the heroic contemplative Saint Theresa of Lisieux.

Certainly with the uplifting devotion of the pilgrims there, our Lady of "the Immaculate Conception" was able to penetrate the hearts of all for a new era of holiness. This holiness is the main weapon for our struggle against today's secularism, agnosticism, and terrorism.

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