February 8, 2013. (Romereports.com) Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the prefect for the
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will travel as the Pope's special envoy to the
50 anniversary celebrations of the
Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health in Vailankanni, India.
This website takes users on a
virtual tour and allows them to learn more about this neo-Gothic Catholic sanctuary, which has a capacity for about 15,000 people.
The Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health, located in southern India, by the Gulf of Bengal, is the most important pilgrimage site for Catholic in India.
Nearly two million people travel each year to the small city to venerate the Virgin Mary, known here as the “Lourdes of the East.”
When a monstrous tsunami ravaged Indonesia in 2004, it also affected the area around Vailankanni. However, the sanctuary emerged unscathed from the devastation.
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