The Holy Father will arrive at the Tarbes-Ousson Airport at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 14, where President Jacques Chirac of France is scheduled to meet him. Towards 1 p.m. the Pope will go to the Grotto where, in late afternoon, he will be joined by other pilgrims with whom he will pray the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary as the faithful process around the shrine. The fifth mystery will end in the square in front of the basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, following which the Holy Father will address the crowd. At 9 p.m. there will be the traditional torchlit procession on the shrine grounds.
On Sunday, August 15, feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, John Paul II is scheduled to celebrate Mass at 10 a.m. at the shrine. In the afternoon he will spend some private time in prayer at the Grotto. His departure for Rome is set for 6 p.m.
According to the bishops, more than 300,000 people, including 2,000 journalists who have registered for the occasion, are expected in Lourdes for the two-day event. The French bishops, together with the authorities of the Lourdes shrine and the prefecture of Hautes-Pryenees, have created an Internet site, available in French and English, for the visit: www.lourdes2004.com
When he instituted the World Day of the Sick in 1992, Pope John Paul chose February 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, as the date on which this day would be marked each year. The first world day took place in 1993 in Lourdes on the theme "That the sick and disabled will have their rightful place in society and in the Church."
This year the World Day of the Sick was again celebrated in Lourdes, on the theme "The Immaculate Conception and Health in the Christian Roots of Europe."