{"id":1051888,"date":"2025-08-08T17:14:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T15:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lourdes-france.org\/pilgrimages-to-lourdes\/les-pelerins-de-lourdes\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T14:38:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T12:38:06","slug":"pilgrims-of-lourdes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.lourdes-france.org\/en\/lourdes-pilgrimage\/pilgrims-of-lourdes\/","title":{"rendered":"Who are the pilgrims of Lourdes?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Who are the pilgrims of Lourdes?<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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_________________<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is an international shrine, a meeting place open to all.<\/b><\/p>

The whole world comes to Lourdes<\/b><\/h1>

From the moment the apparitions began in 1858, crowds flocked to the Grotto of Massabielle, around little Bernadette Soubirous. Pilgrimages<\/a> were organised and quickly spread throughout France and beyond. The first pilgrimage from abroad took place in 1874: the Belgian national pilgrimage brought more than a thousand pilgrims to Lourdes.\u2028
In order to accommodate the ever-increasing crowds of pilgrims<\/a>, the Sanctuary has been extended and developed over the years.<\/p>

Whether a one-day pilgrim or a lifelong pilgrim, travelling with family or as part of a diocese, a devout worshipper or a casual visitor, it is difficult to identify any one \u2018typical profile\u2019 for pilgrims. Nevertheless, they can be broadly divided into the following categories:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Organised groups of pilgrims<\/b><\/h2>

These groups account for 20% of visitors to Lourdes. They are people who come to Lourdes on a spiritual journey. They are often organised by a parish, diocese, country, religious family or even a tour operator. These pilgrimage organisations have often been in existence for several decades, and some for over a century.
The Sanctuary<\/a> knows exactly how many there are because they are registered. They liaise closely with the Sanctuary for venue bookings and any special requests.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Independent pilgrims<\/b><\/h2>

This group makes up 80% of visitors to Lourdes. \u2028 They come to Lourdes on their own or with their families, for a few days or a few hours. They join the large crowd of pilgrims to take part in the major celebrations. \u2028\u2028<\/p>

Pilgrims come from all over the world: the Sanctuary welcomes 80 different nationalities\u2028.
Lourdes is international because the simplicity and depth of its message brings together crowds from all nations and backgrounds. \u2028
The Sanctuary welcomes everyone, from all walks of life, regardless of their culture, religion or lack thereof. Here, everyone will find whatever it is they are trying to find.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLEARN MORE ABOUT PILGRIMAGES<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A few statistics<\/b><\/h1>

Orgqnised groups including sick pilgrims
<\/span><\/strong>Orgqnised groups including sick pilgrims
2019: 445\u00a0000 pilgrims\u2028
2020: 35\u00a0000 pilgrims\u2028 (Covid-19 pandemic)<\/em>
2021: 100\u00a0000 pilgrims
\u20282022: 175 000 pilgrims\u2028
2023: 370 000 pilgrims\u2028
2024: 410 000 pilgrims<\/p>

Independent pilgrims and visitors
<\/strong><\/span>2019: Actual figure unknown (estimation 3.5 million)
\u20282020: 800\u00a0000 pilgrims (Covid-19 pandemic)<\/em>
\u20282021: 1.6 million pilgrims\u2028
2022: 2.7 million pilgrims\u2028
2023: 3.1 million pilgrims\u2028
2024: 3.2 million pilgrims<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Who are the pilgrims of Lourdes? _________________ The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is an international shrine, a meeting place open to all. The whole world comes to Lourdes From the moment the apparitions began in 1858, crowds flocked … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1057034,"parent":867259,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1051888","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWho are the pilgrims of Lourdes?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whether pilgrims for a day or lifelong pilgrims, travelling with family or as part of a diocese, devout worshippers or visitors passing through, who are the pilgrims of Lourdes?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lourdes-france.org\/en\/lourdes-pilgrimage\/pilgrims-of-lourdes\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" 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