Last updated at 09:05 ET
Bomb threat hits Lourdes pilgrims
Roman Catholic believers flock to Lourdes from all over the world
Thousands of Roman Catholic pilgrims have been evacuated from Lourdes in south-west France after a bomb threat, officials are reported as saying.
The threat came as 30,000 worshippers were in the town to celebrate the annual Feast of the Assumption, the French news agency AFP said.
Lourdes is famous for what many Roman Catholics believe was a vision of the Virgin Mary by a local girl in 1858.
The Sanctuary at Lourdes is visited each year by six million believers.
It houses the shrine or grotto to Our Lady of Lourdes and on 15 August believers celebrate the Virgin Mary's ascent to heaven.
"A bomb warning was received at the police station, announcing that four bombs were going to go off at around 1500 (1400GMT)," a church press officer told AFP.
He said the evacuation was taking place calmly.
Bomb disposal experts were at the scene, police said.
Cure claims
The Sanctuary is the name given to the central area of the Lourdes pilgrimage site.
The site is home to 22 places of worship, including the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, which marks the spot where pilgrims believe the Virgin Mary appeared.
It was founded after a 14-year-old French girl, Bernadette Soubirous, claimed to have witnessed a series of visions in a cave.
Since then, many people suffering illness or infirmity claim to have been miraculously cured by spring water coming from the Sanctuary.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10980157
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