The second panel of the diptych was, explained Benedict XVI, "an emblematic place, which attracts and fascinates every believer: Lourdes is like a light in the darkness of our fumbling about for God. There, Mary opened a door towards an afterlife that questions and captivates us". In Lourdes for the 150th anniversary of the Apparitions, the Holy Father "in front of the Grotto of Massabielle" prayed for France and for the world. Turned into "a pilgrim amidst the pilgrims", the Pontiff followed the four stations of the Jubilee Trail and prayed "with and for the sick, who come here looking for physical relief and spiritual hope". "God does not forget them, and neither does the Church", he added. As any devotee on a pilgrimage, he took part in the procession "aux flambeaux" and in the Eucharistic procession. With the French bishops, he stated, "I wanted to share my belief that this is a good time for going back to God". And then his farewell: "God bless France! May harmony and human progress reign on its soil, and may the Church be there like the yeast in the dough to point out wisely and fearlessly, as it should, who God is".
