EUROPE/FRANCE - Celebrations in Lourdes for the 12th World Day for the Sick open today – Papal Message: “If Jesus is the source of life which triumphs over death Mary is the loving mother who answers the call of her children obtaining for them health of body and soul ”

Lourdes (Fides Service) – On Wednesday 11 February, feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, all over the world the Church will hold celebrations for the 12th World Day for the Sick, instituted by Pope John Paul II, on 13 May 1992. The main world event is held at a different Marian Shrine each year. This year the principal Mass for the Day on 11 February feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, will be held in Lourdes where Mary appeared to little Bernardette Soubirous and when the young girl asked her name Mary said she was "the Immaculate Conception". This year is the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of this dogma of Catholic Faith by Pius IX and the theme of the Day is “The Immaculate Conception and Health- Care in the Christian Roots of Europe”.
Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, Bishop delegates for Pastoral of Health Care in Europe and elsewhere in the world are in Lourdes to take part in three days of events. The first is a day of study on 9 February on the situation of Health Pastoral in Europe; on 10 February the participants will reflect on questions of bio-ethics and the significance of Lourdes as a source of health; on 11 February there will be a concelebration of the Eucharist presided by the Pope’s special envoy for the occasion Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, President of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral. Also part of the programme in Lourdes, anointing of the Sick, Torch light processions, benediction.
“The activity of our Council is to promote, direct and coordinate Health Pastoral – Card. Lozano Barragan told Fides -. Our first objective is the mission entrusted to us by the Holy Father in this field. The Pope recommends: spiritual assistance for health workers and patients; particular attention for new diseases, for example Aids, bird influenza, SARS, tuberculosis, malaria and all those diseases which re-emerge when vaccines fail to have effect. The Pope has also asked us to pay attention to scientific progress, research, and laws concerning important issues such as abortion, cloning, stem cells and to present the position of the Catholic Church in these matters.”
(S.L.) (Fides Service 9/2/2004; lines: 27; words: 376)