Pope Leo in Lourdes: What to know about one of Catholicism’s most famous pilgrimage sites

PARIS, France — Pope Leo XIV is visiting the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes this weekend as part of his four-day apostolic journey to France, which is the first official papal state visit to the country in 18 years.

The site near the Spanish border draws millions of pilgrims annually, including sick and disabled believers hoping for a cure from the famed spring water in the Lourdes grotto. Here is what to know about Lourdes, one of Catholicism’s most important pilgrimage sites.

The site began with Bernadette Soubirous

Lourdes’ popularity is intrinsically linked to Bernadette Soubirous. A young girl who came from a modest background, she was uneducated, with no knowledge of religion, and suffered from asthma when she reported 18 visions of a lady dressed in white in the Grotto of Massabielle near Lourdes, between February and July 1858. The Catholic Church later accepted that the visions were of the Virgin Mary.

Bernadette’s visions, and the subsequent discovery of allegedly healing spring waters, led the church to build a sanctuary there.

In 1866, Bernadette left Lourdes to join the convent of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, where she lived until her death at age 35. Pope