Pilgrims crowd field for Mass with Pope

A frail Pope John Paul II celebrated an open-air Mass today as several hundred thousand pilgrims, many in wheelchairs, crowded onto a field near Lourdes, a French shrine to the Virgin Mary associated with miraculous cures of the sick.

Breathing heavily and gasping, the Pope struggled to read the text of his homily but raised his voice to express “special affection” for the sick.

He stopped for a drink of water and skipped several paragraphs in his prepared remarks. The crowd applauded at times to encourage him.

The Mass was a highlight of the Pope’s two-day visit to Lourdes, where Roman Catholic tradition says St Bernadette saw visions of Mary in a grotto in 1858.

The crowd applauded as the Pope was guided to the red-carpeted altar in his white wheeled throne. His voice was strong as he read the opening prayer.

Officials said they expected 300,000 people, and the figure appeared on mark as worshippers jammed into the field to await the pope.

The Lourdes shrine – a craggy indentation in a cliff where Roman Catholics pray and light candles – has special meaning for the sick. Thousands of people have claimed to be healed by an underground spring here, and the church has recognised 66 of the claims as miracles.

A day earlier, the 84-year-old pontiff prayed at the grotto, assuring other ailing Roman Catholics that he shared in their physical suffering.

“With you I share a time of life marked by physical suffering, yet not for that reason any less fruitful in God’s wondrous plan,” John Paul said on Saturday in remarks read for him by a French cardinal.

The Vatican says that the Pope is not in Lourdes to seek a cure for his Parkinson’s disease and crippling knee and hip problems.

The Pope is generally moved around on a wheeled throne, but at the shrine he was hoisted onto a kneeler, where he prayed before the ivy-covered grotto. After less than a minute he slipped, and aides immediately steadied him and lifted him back into his chair.

At dusk last night, the Pope watched a procession of white-clad pilgrims holding candles before retiring to a care centre for ailing Roman Catholics.

His trip commemorates the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception, the dogma that says Mary was born without original sin.