Vatican City, Feb 11, 2022 / 12:00 pm
Pope Francis on Friday encouraged Catholics to ask Our Lady of Lourdes to intercede for them to have a heart more open to encountering other people and their needs.
In a video message for the Feb. 11 feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the pope explained that “encounter is always opening oneself to others.”
“The opposite of encounter is closing one’s heart,” he said. “Mother, help us not to have closed hearts, because selfishness is a moth that gnaws at the heart from within.”
On Feb. 11, the Catholic Church celebrates the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. The feast day recalls when the Virgin Mary appeared to a young St. Bernadette Soubirous in a cave-grotto in southwestern France from Feb. 11 to July 16, 1858.