Pope to stay with the sick in Lourdes

When Pope John Paul II visits Lourdes on August 14-15, for the 150th anniversary of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, he will stay at one of the centres for the sick there. The Holy Father will stay overnight at the 904-bed Notre Dame Reception Centre, which has single, double and wards for ailing pilgrims as well as medical staff on duty around the clock. "The Pope will come on pilgrimage as a ill man among the ill," Lourdes' diocesan Bishop Jacques Perrier told the media on Friday.