Benedict XVI will certainly be in Lourdes for the 150th anniversary of Mary’s apparitions, but the date has not been decided yet. It was stated by mgr. Jacques Perrier, bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, who in the Vatican today illustrated the schedule of the celebrations for what has been called the Jubilee of Mary’s apparitions. The bishop spoke of the Pope’s journey to the sanctuary on the Pyrenees as "a certain fact, since he wrote me an autographed letter in which he says he entrusts to the Lord my hope to be present at a significant time of the jubilee year". Uncertainty about the date of the Pope’s journey adds up to uncertainty about the possible extension of such trip to other places in France. As to this, father Federico Lombardi, director of the Newsroom of the Holy See, said that "the journey to Lourdes is much likelier". (continued)
