Good-bye to John-Paul II

“I would like to embrace each and every one of you”
“Dear brothers and sisters who are sick, how I would like to embrace each and every one of you with affection, to tell you how close I am to you and how much I support you
Pope John-Paul II greeting the sick during his first address at the Grotto of Lourdes on Saturday 14th August 2004.

“A unique school of prayer”
“Here the Blessed Virgin asked Bernadette to recite the Rosary, as she herself told the beads. This grotto has thus become a unique school of prayer where Mary teaches everyone to gaze with burning love upon the face of Christ.
Pope John-Paul II introducing the meditations to the Mysteries of Light of the Rosary from the Grotto of Lourdes on 14th August 2004.

“I have greatly wished to make this pilgrimage to Lourdes”
“I have greatly wished to make this pilgrimage to Lourdes in order to celebrate an event which continues to give glory to the Triune God. Mary’s Immaculate Conception is the sign of the gracious love of the Father, the perfect expression of the redemption accomplished by the Son and the beginning of a life completely open to the working of the Spirit.”
Homily of Pope John-Paul II for 15th August 2004 on the Prairie of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

“Blessed Virgin speaks to us”
Dear brothers and sisters! From this grotto of Massabielle the Blessed Virgin speaks to us too, the Christians of the third millennium. Let us listen to her!
Homily of Pope John-Paul II for 15th August 2004 on the Prairie of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

“Young people”
Listen to her, young people who seek an answer capable of giving meaning to your lives. Here you can find that answer. It is a demanding one, yet it is the only answer which is genuinely satisfying. For it contains the secret of true joy and peace.
Homily of Pope John-Paul II for 15th August 2004 on the Prairie of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

“A special call to women”
From this grotto I issue a special call to women. Appearing here, Mary entrusted her message to a young girl, as if to emphasize the special mission of women in our own time, tempted as it is by materialism and secularism: to be in today’s society a witness of those essential values which are seen only with the eyes of the heart. To you, women, falls the task of being sentinels of the Invisible! I appeal urgently to all of you, dear brother and sisters, to do everything in your power to ensure that life, each and every life, will be respected from conception to its natural end. Life is a sacred gift, and no one can presume to be its master.
Homily of Pope John-Paul II for 15th August 2004 on the Prairie of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

“Be men and women of freedom!”
Finally, Our Lady of Lourdes has a message for everyone. Be men and women of freedom! But remember: human freedom is a freedom wounded by sin. It is a freedom which itself needs to be set free. Christ is its liberator; he is the one who "for freedom has set us free" (cf. Gal 5:1). Defend that freedom!
Homily of Pope John-Paul II for 15th August 2004 on the Prairie of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The Final Words of Pope John-Paul II on the subject of Lourdes
On the 11th February 2005, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, Pope John-Paul II, from the Vatican, addressed a letter to the Church in France on the subject of secularity. The letter was sent to the President of the French Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard. The letter ends with a special mention for the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes:
“I cherish my memories of the various Visits I have had the joy of making to the beloved land of France, especially my unforgettable pilgrimage to Lourdes, a place particularly dear to the faithful of your Country and more generally, to all who desire to entrust themselves to the Virgin Mary.”

• Good-bye to John-Paul II
• A selection of the words of Pope John-Paul II at Lourdes in 1983