Lourdes hosts Catholic pilgrims for traditional religious rites

Pilgrims gathered in Lourdes to participate in religious traditions centered around the Grotto of Massabielle. The site, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared 18 times, remains a major destination for millions of faithful who visit to drink from and be sprinkled with the spring water emerging from the rocks.

During the pilgrimage, participants engaged in a Stations of the Cross prayer walk covering 1,500 meters on the Espélugues hill. In the Basilica of Saint Pius X, priests blessed the water before performing rituals involving the washing of pilgrims' hands.