Pope names delegate to Lourdes
for care of pilgrims
 |
| The Marian Shrine of Lourdes |
Pope Francis has named Bishop Antoine Hérouard, auxiliary of
Lille, France, as his special delegate charged with the pastoral care of pilgrims
visiting Lourdes. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the President of the Pontifical
Council for the New Evangelization, announced the appointment at the French
Marian shrine on Thursday.
By Andrea Tornielli
The decision is line with the one already taken in 2017 for
Medjugorje. Pope Francis has shown his particular concern for the care of
pilgrims, and desires that centres of Marian devotion should become “ever more
a place of prayer and of Christian witness corresponding to the needs of the
People of God.” This is seen in the letter that the Pope has sent to Bishop
Antoine Hérouard, auxiliary Bishop of Lille, France, in which he communicates
to him the decision to nominate him as delegate ad nutum Sanctae Sedis (that
is, “at the disposition of the Holy See) for the sanctuary of Lourdes.
The papal letter was read in the small centre of the
Pyrenees, the site of one of the most popular Marian apparitions in history, in
the presence of the chaplains and administrators of the sanctuary. It was made
public at noon on Thursday, 6 June, by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of
the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, the Dicastery which two
years ago Pope Francis entrusted with the duty of promoting the pastoral care
of sanctuaries. As noted in the letter, in recent months Abp Fisichella himself
has undertaken a mission as “special envoy” to the sanctuary that each year
sees millions of pilgrims coming from every part of the world.
“Following the assessment” of Abp Fisichella, the Pope
writes, “I desire to understand what further form the Sanctuary of Lourdes
might adopt, beyond the many already in place, in order to become ever more a
place of prayer and of Christian witness corresponding to the needs of the
People of God.”
The mandate of Bishop Hérouard, who continues in his
position in Lille, is limited to the sanctuary alone, while the Diocese of
Tarbes and Lourdes remains entrusted to Bishop Nicolas Jean René Brouwet. It
should be noted that the appointment of the delegate is not for an indefinite
period of time (as was the case of Archbishop Hoser to Medjugorje); and this
means that it is intended not as a permanent charge, but a temporary one, aimed
at the pastoral and spiritual care of pilgrims. Pope Francis, who has this care
very much at heart, wishes to accentuate the spiritual primacy over the
temptation to overemphasize the managerial and financial aspect; and wants to
promote ever more the popular devotion that is traditional in sanctuaries.
In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelium gaudium,
the Pope wrote that, “Popular piety enables us to see how the faith, once
received, becomes embodied in a culture and is constantly passed on.” Pope
Francis continues, citing the Aparecida Document containing the conclusions of
the meeting of the Latin American episcopate, which took place in Brazil’s most
important Marian sanctuary. He recalled “the riches which the Holy Spirit pours
forth in popular piety by his gratuitous initiative,” affirming that
“‘Journeying together to shrines and taking part in other manifestations of
popular piety, also by taking one’s children or inviting others, is in itself
an evangelizing gesture.’ Let us not stifle or presume to control this
missionary power!”
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