God punishes Catholic Church for years of systematic abuse.

[Animavore]

Pilgrims evacuated as French floods hit Lourdes shrine



Hundreds of Roman Catholic pilgrims have been evacuated from the sanctuary of Lourdes in France after heavy flooding in the area.

The Gave de Pau river burst its banks after days of rain, flooding campsites around the shrine and parts of the southern city itself.

Lourdes is famous for what many Roman Catholics believe was a vision of the Virgin Mary by a local girl in 1858.

Millions of pilgrims from around the world visit the shrine each year.


More than 450 pilgrims, including the sick and disabled, were evacuated from the area by Saturday, local officials say.

The water now is about a metre (three feet) deep in front of the grotto where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared, covering the altar.

However, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception itself - situated on higher ground - has not suffered any damage, officials say.

"I've seen nothing like it in 40 years," hotel owner Pierre Barrere was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Meteorologists warn that the rain - which has been falling since Thursday - is likely to continue until at least Sunday.

The sanctuary is the name given to the central area of the Lourdes pilgrimage site, which is home to 22 places of worship.

It was founded after 14-year-old peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous claimed to have witnessed a series of visions in a cave.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20019587

[Bella Fortuna]

They'll glaum on to this

However, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception itself - situated on higher ground - has not suffered any damage, officials say.

and wail praisingly about what a miracle it was.

[Santa_Claus]

I have never experianced anything like that at Lourdes in my whole life.

It must be a sign.

Then again, I have never actually been to Lourdes (but that seems too simple an explanation to be true).

[klr]

My mother fell and hurt her ankle at Lourdes recently. I resisted the urge to point out the delicious irony to her.

I recall overhearing someone on the train a couple of years ago recounting a similar fate befalling them at Lourdes, and I think I mentioned it here.

[Svartalf]

I have never experianced anything like that at Lourdes in my whole life.

It must be a sign.

Then again, I have never actually been to Lourdes (but that seems too simple an explanation to be true).

I witnessed true miracles. Mary bottles full of Lourdes water whose contents were turned into bootleg Armagnac brandy by the Holy Spirit.

[mistermack]

You can mock, but Lourdes has had a profound influence on my life.

When I was little, my auntie gave me a string of rosary beads. The crucifix had a small glass vial of Lourdes water, set into it. I was assured that Lourdes water had miraculous properties.

When I was three, I had a serious accident that nearly killed me. I was holding the bar of an electric fire, when my five-year-old brother plugged it in.
It didn't kill me, but my hand was badly burned, and I had scars and skin grafts from the treatment.

One day, I decided to use the Lourdes water in the crucifix to cure my hand.
I carefully broke the vial, and spread the water all over my scars.
Amazingly, the next morning, I woke up, and I couldn't believe my eyes.
All the scarring,,,, was still there !!

And that's what started me off as an atheist.
It's a miracle !!!!

[laklak]

One of my exes was a devout Italian Catholic girl, her uncle was a priest who took groups on trips to Lourdes. He would buy boxes of little vials, fill them with tap water and sell them at Mass back home.

[Animavore]

The amount of tack they sell in those places is unreal. You don't see it so much any more but when I was a kid half the houses you went into were wall to wall, Lourdes tack.

[Svartalf]

One of my exes was a devout Italian Catholic girl, her uncle was a priest who took groups on trips to Lourdes. He would buy boxes of little vials, fill them with tap water and sell them at Mass back home.

Typical Italian priest.

[Svartalf]

The amount of tack they sell in those places is unreal. You don't see it so much any more but when I was a kid half the houses you went into were wall to wall, Lourdes tack.

in 1989, I also saw plenty Polish tack, esp Cestochowa Black Madonna stuff... no doubt devotion to Pope JPII

[Animavore]

God's still not happy with their repeated arrogance and blaming of everyone but themselves.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22982169