Pope Francis asks the cardinal on pilgrimage to Lourdes for prayers

Pope Francis called an Italian cardinal headed to Lourdes on a pilgrimage on Monday to ask him for his prayers at the shrine for himself and “why some situations are resolved. "

According to the vicar general of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Pope Francis called him early in the morning of August 24 before De Donatis took off on a flight for a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

“He told me to bless you all and pray for him. He insisted on praying for some situations to be resolved and said to entrust it to Our Lady, ”the cardinal told journalists and others aboard the flight from Rome on 24 August.

De Donatis leads the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes after recovering from the coronavirus this spring. The 185 pilgrims include 40 priests and four bishops, as well as several health workers who helped treat De Donatis when he was sick with the virus.

The cardinal told EWTN News he believes the pilgrimage "is a sign of hope in a very concrete way".

The four days at the Shrine are "therefore, to set out, in a situation of precariousness, of limitation, to rediscover the beauty of the pilgrimage again", he said, "and of the living entrustment to Mary Immaculate, bringing her the whole situation that we are experiencing. "

De Donatis has fully recovered from COVID-19 after contracting the virus in late March. He spent 11 days at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome before being discharged to finish healing at home.

A diocesan press release called it "the first pilgrimage in time of a pandemic: a journey of thanksgiving and entrustment to the Virgin Mary, who accompanied and inspired the diocese's prayer since the beginning of the lockout".

The pilgrimage to Lourdes is an annual tradition of the Diocese of Rome. As fewer people may be in France this year, many of the pilgrimage events will be live streamed on social media, including the Vatican's EWTN Facebook page, for people who want to “join” from home. The final mass of the pilgrimage will also be broadcast live on Italian television.

The live shows "will be an opportunity to bring to the Grotto of the apparitions those who cannot be physically there, perhaps because they are elderly or sick, but who will thus be able to live this experience in communion with the other faithful", according to Fr. Walter Insero, director of communication of the Diocese of Rome.

Organizer of pilgrimages, Fr. Remo Chiavarini, said “we have many reasons to dedicate time to prayer in these places of special closeness to the Lord”.

“We can thank him for protecting our lives, but also ask for help with all our needs, as well as putting all the people we care about in his hands,” he continued. "We give our city an opportunity to strengthen trust and hope, to feel comforted and reassured, to grow in a true sense of solidarity".

During the first part of the blockade of Italy for COVID-19, and before contracting the virus himself, De Donatis had said a daily live streaming mass to end the pandemic from the Sanctuary of Divino Amore in Rome.

A few days before being discharged from the hospital, the cardinal wrote a message to the Catholics of Rome to assure them that his condition was not serious.

"All my gratitude goes to the doctors, nurses and all the health personnel of the Agostino Gemelli Hospital who are taking care of me and many other patients with great competence and showing a deep humanity, animated by the feelings of the Good Samaritan", he wrote.

The Diocese of Rome also organizes pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to Fatima in the months of September and October