In Lourdes, pilgrims with mixed emotion pray for his health

On this February 20, 2025, an unusual sweetness enveloped the hundred pilgrims collected in an arc of a circle in front of the Massabielle cave. The evening breeze brings spring scents and makes the flames of the candles dance one by one for the 8:30 a.m., recited in the languages ​​of all the nationalities present.

“We particularly pray for Pope Francis who faces a serious illness,” announces the priest at opening. An intention that inaugurates each celebration of Lourdes (Hautes -Pyrénées) since mid -February. “The instruction was given to the 35 chaplains to proceed in this hospital, explains the rector of the sanctuary, Father Michel Daubanes. It is important to signify this concern for the sick pope. Millions of people join us every day at a distance, through social networks and televisions around the world. »»

At the Standard of the Marian sanctuary, seated under a photo of Saint Bernadette, Giusy receives many requests all day in order to bring the cave of prayer intentions for the Pope. “It is mainly Italians who call,” comments this employee with long Venetian blond hair, who is originally from the country of Petrarch.

Pilgrims affected by the simplicity and humanity of Pope Francis

In these hours of waiting and uncertainty about the future of Pierre’s successor, what attachment to the person of François express the pilgrims of Lourdes? The table is contrasting. “This pope touches me more than the others by its simplicity, its sobriety and its proximity to people,” says Perrine, a 42 -year -old Lourdaise, leaving the rosary to which she attended in Spanish with her husband Miguel and their baby of 5 month.

In chemotherapy, a damn pink covering her head, she feels concerned by the explosion of diseases of environmental origin. And grateful for encyclical Laudato if ‘, published in 2015. “It develops the notion of integral ecology, which links respect for others and nature. I work in the city of Saint – Pierre (reception center in Secours Catholique in Lourdes, editor’s note) And I can see how this text moves our practices: outings to discover nature, more local and less meat food. »»

Her husband Miguel, he appreciates this “less theological and more human” pontiff than others. “In the Church, we can have many theories and catechesis, and lose sight of humanity. The proximity of the pope with humanity as it is, it is also what enthuses the Barroilhet family, who came from Chile. Sergio, his wife Patricia and their seven children have undertaken a one -month Marian pilgrimage through Europe, from Fatima to Medjugorje, via Lourdes.

“We are very sad to know that it is undoubtedly little time to live in François,” says Patricia. It is a pope who showed God’s merciful face and brought many people from the Church closer. I saw him among young people around us but also with friends who felt welcomed. “And his eldest daughter to add:” A word that marked me, it was when he asked Catholics not to look at society from their balcony, but to descend to live among people. »»

Among the pilgrims, the figure of Pope Francis is not unanimous

But at the foot of the cave, there are also Catholics who have never used this pastor from Latin America. “I know he’s sick but that doesn’t affect me. His positions, we agree … or not. I do not feel in communion with him, says clearly Lise, 63, volunteer at the city of Saint-Pierre. As a Polish girl and granddaughter, my pope is and will be John Paul II until my last breath. The shadow of the last pontiffs still seems to hover over the figure of François.

Same distant report, even slightly hostile, from this couple from Toulouse with their seven children for a day of prayer. “We were very marked by Jean-Paul II and Benoît XVI, admits Anne. Pope Francis is more divisive. »»

Her husband Hervé is more explicit: “François did a lot of pain in the church on political and liturgical aspects. Regarding remarried divorced, he should have taught faith instead of introducing vagueness by decreeing that, in some cases, they could access communion. We are of a traditionalist tendency and we feel rejected, even criminalized, since he banned Latin masses in Rome*. »Distant or close to François, however, all the pilgrims interviewed assure him: they pray for him at this crucial moment in the life of the church.

*The Motu owner Traditionis custodes considerably reduces access to Tridentine Mass (in Latin) in the dioceses.