The Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin. This is the dogma of faith that Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854, and it came with a lot of controversy. Critics argued that it did not explicitly appear in the Bible and that it fueled division between Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But time would prove the pope right. In 1858, in Lourdes, the Virgin appeared 18 times to Bernadette, an illiterate young woman. When Mary revealed her name to her, it was interpreted as divine confirmation of the dogma.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n FRAN\u00c7OIS VAYNE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Vatican correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to note that the popes have a very strong connection to Lourdes, because when the Virgin Mary appeared in Lourdes, Pope Pius IX was facing many problems. And the fact that the Virgin Mary revealed her name in Lourdes\u2014\u201dI am the Immaculate Conception\u201d\u2014Pope Pius IX took this as a confirmation of his magisterium.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The apparitions lasted five months. The first one took place on February 11, a date that has since marked important events at the Vatican. Specifically, Pope Paul VI proclaimed St. Benedict the patron saint of Europe in 1964, Pope John Paul II established World Day of the Sick in 1992, and Pope Benedict XIV announced his resignation in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FRAN\u00c7OIS VAYNE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Vatican correspondent<\/p>\n\n\n\n All important diplomatic documents issued by the Holy See are signed on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, February 11\u2014such as the Lateran Pacts, for example, or when Pope John Paul II brought Catholic bishops back to Moscow after the fall of the Wall; that, too, took place on February 11.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The papal connection was also evident in visits. Pope John Paul II visited on two occasions, in 1983 and in 2004, a year before his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pope Benedict XVI took up the torch, visiting in 2008. He went for the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His stop in the small town turned the trip into an official visit to France, although the itinerary was more tightly controlled, with less contact with the faithful. The opposite would be true for Leo XIV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CAMILLE DALMAS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Vatican correspondent, I.MEDIA Agency (France)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pope Benedict\u2019s trip, many years ago, was much more cautious. Today, it looks like a trip where the Pope will truly be everywhere, in close contact with the people\u2014something that wasn\u2019t the case during Pope Benedict\u2019s trip so many years ago.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Back then, it was more of an institutional event, with little contact with the crowd; they chose a smaller venue for Mass. Here, it\u2019s a massive venue. Right now, we\u2019re talking about 500,000 people for Saturday\u2019s Mass, but there\u2019s room for many more.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n France thus becomes the sixth international trip of Pope Leo XIV\u2019s pontificate. Another European destination, historically Catholic, but one where secularization gradually took hold until it uprooted faith from society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin. This is the dogma of faith that Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854, and it came with a lot of controversy. Critics argued that it did not explicitly appear in the Bible and that it fueled division between Christians. But time would prove the pope right. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":94273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/3bJIfhxmCb0","video_descarga":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/blourdespapieng.mp4","international_url":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/blourdespapiint.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94272"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94277,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94272\/revisions\/94277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}