There will be limited posting over the next week…

Basílica of the Immaculate Conception, Lourdes

…as I accompany the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes, in southern France. Here, more than a century ago, the Holy Virgin appeared to a peasant girl, introducing herself as the ‘Immaculate Conception,’ not long after the Holy Father had declared her to have been immaculately conceived (authoritatively confirming what had been held constantly in the Church since almost the very beginning). The Immaculate Conception, of course, refers to the Virgin Mary’s own birth of her mother Anna, preserved from all sin. This remains an important teaching of the Church: that of the purity and holiness of the holy Mother of God.

Circumstances permitting, I shall attempt to update the Twitter feed. See the bottom of the sidebar.