FRANCE: Pope John Paul II sets out this morning more in the guise of a sick and ailing pilgrim than that of the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church when he travels to Lourdes for a two-day visit, writes Paddy Agnew in Lourdes
Festive bunting, flower-lined streets and 200,000 pilgrims, including more than 1,000 Irish people, all await the Pope who is making the second visit of his pontificate to the Marian shrine following that of 1983.
His 104th overseas papal visit is not short on pastoral and political undertones concerning the Vatican's differences with the government of French President Jacques Chirac, but the main focus of his stay will be on prayer and meditation.
The ailing 84-year-old Pope will stay in the Accueil Notre-Dame, a 900-bed, purpose-built residence for ailing pilgrims that stands beside the famous grotto where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.
The Pope will pray at the grotto and take part in a candlelight procession. Given his health problems, his itinerary has been reduced to the bare minimum. The weekend takes in only one major liturgical event when he presides over an open-air Mass tomorrow morning, while political and diplomatic formalities will be restricted to his arrival this morning in Tarbes, near Lourdes, where he will be greeted by President Chirac.
Inevitably the attention of the world's media will be closely focused on the Pope's health.
A year ago in Slovakia, such was the Pope's frailty and his inability to read his own speeches that it seemed he might never travel again outside the Vatican.
Not for the first time such alarm was premature, if not entirely ill-founded, as the Pope has since travelled to Bosnia, Pompeii and, most recently, to Switzerland in June this year. In recent months, his health has appeared stable with doctors reporting that his blood circulation, heart rate, diet and sleep patterns are all within healthy limits.
Travel, however, remains a problem since he is now wheelchair-bound, his movements restricted by arthritis in his knees, by a painful hip and by Parkinson's disease. While travelling he gets tired by the simple physical movements required to get him in and out of the "Popemobile" or on and off an airplane.
Attention will also focus on the exchange of greetings this morning between the Pope and President Chirac. Senior Vatican figures such as Cardinal Angelo Sodano and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger have made no secret of their disappointment at France's refusal to push for a reference to Europe's Christian heritage in the new European Union constitution.
Furthermore, the Vatican is strongly opposed to French legislation, introduced last winter, banning overtly religious apparel in schools.
Finally, and not surprisingly in the post-September 11th era, the Pope's visit has prompted a huge security operation, involving 2,700 policemen, armoured cars, military helicopters and an undisclosed number of missile launchers. Lourdes will be closed off to all but bona fide pilgrims, all of whom have been bussed in from outside.