Evangelicals Warn Mary Has 'Taken Jesus' Place on the Cross' as Millions Seek Miracles in France

By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter | Jul 25, 2018 11:35 AM

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Emmanuel Brunner)

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Emmanuel Brunner)The Virgin Mary shrine in Lourdes, France, in this photo uploaded on May 1, 2007,

As millions of people travel to Lourdes, France, every year in search of divine healing, some evangelical missionaries are warning that at the holy site venerated by Catholics, many are revering the Virgin Mary more than Jesus Christ.

"For followers of Jesus Christ, the atmosphere in Lourdes is dark and discouraging. Christians know that it is 'the Lord who heals you' (Exodus 15:26). The determination and expectation of 6 million pilgrims a year feels overwhelming," Pioneers, a missions agency that is based in Florida but has offices worldwide, said last week.

One Pioneers member in Lourdes said: "In my town Mary takes Jesus' place on the cross. People come from far and wide to bring honor to her, to ask her for healing, to pray to her. This is all the locals of this rural town in the mountains know: not Jesus, just millions of Catholic pilgrims from the whole world with their Mary statues, rosaries, and holy water. What should church look like for people who have been completely desensitized to the Gospel?"

As the article explains, every year over 6 million people — Catholics and people of other faiths — visit Lourdes where they believe Mary appeared in 1858 on several occasions. The Vatican has declared the location a holy site for worshipers, with many believing that a cave with a natural spring, where Mary is said to have appeared, has healing properties.

It noted that each year, 350,000 people bathe in the spring, while over 7,000 have asked the Vatican to confirm their healings as a miracle. The Catholic Church has authenticated 69 such miraculous healings in Lourdes.

"Masses of hopeful people come from all walks of life to visit the grotto. Buddhists and Hindus, Catholics and superstitious are there. The wealthy and poor are there. Young and old. Black and white. Western and eastern," Pioneers adds.

"They all walk together — unified in their hope and expectation of healing. They fly, drive, and walk far for their chance to be miraculously restored," the missionary group ads.

The missionaries said that they're looking to renovate a cafe in the center of Lourdes as a way to offer visitors who come for Mary an encounter with Jesus instead. They say that they are hoping that "those who seek the healing of a physical infirmity, would instead receive restoration for their souls."

The veneration of Mary continues to be one of the major points of disagreement between evangelicals and Catholics.

As the Our Lady of Lourdes website explains, the site in France is significant because it's a place "where Catholics can deepen their faith."

"Our Lady of Lourdes is a place where Catholic's can put their faith into their actions and journey across the pilgrim in order to deepen their faith," it states.

"Mary is not only the chosen mother of Jesus, but she was Mary Immaculate who was born without sin. Mary is the main reason why Lourdes is so significant because it is the site where she appeared to put herself forward to heal people and set miracles."

Back in May 2017, hundreds of evangelicals set out to preach the Bible to a mass gathering of Catholics in Fátima, Portugal, where Mary is also said to have visited and spoken to shepherd children 100 years ago.

António Calaim, pastor and president of the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance, explained at the time that evangelicals "do not agree with the idolatry of Mary, the worship of the saints and images, and the leadership of the Church in the whole world under one man."

Calaim insisted that evangelicals are not looking to confront Catholics, however, but "to give a hug and share the Word of God" with the people at the Fátima gathering.

Source

Floods force pilgrims to flee Lourdes

French rescue services have helped hundreds of Catholic pilgrims escape the sanctuary of Lourdes as the region was flooded by days of non-stop rain.

More than 450 visitors to the Catholic shrine were ferried from hotels in the lower town to higher ground.

Officials said the famed sites visited by millions of religious pilgrims each year would remain closed for several days.

"The space in front of the grotto is entirely covered with water, the altar is under water," Thierry Castillo, the custodian of the sanctuaries, told the AFP news agency.

Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous in the grotto in Lourdes in 1858.

Waters rise

The water was around one meter (three feet) high in front of the grotto 80 centimeters high in the avenue du Paradis, where most of the hotels are located.

Officials have said this is the worst flooding in 25 years. The river Gave de Pau was three meters above its usual level on Saturday and rising. Weather forecasts predicted that the rain would continue until Sunday, following a continuous downpour overnight on Saturday.

Last year, more than six million visitors descended upon shrine. The Catholic church has recognized 68 miracles linked to Lourdes.

Lourdes has special meaning for the suffering, many of whom believe its water can heal and even work miracles. Many disabled or sick people go there to pray for a cure.

The sanctuaries are not expected to reopen before Tuesday or Wednesday.

tm/ccp (AFP, AP)

Source

.

.

Bomb threat hits Lourdes pilgrims

15 August 2010

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
.