“
Historically empty
” for the second consecutive year to the opening of the Easter weekend, the Catholic sanctuary of Lourdes in the southwest has multiplied by five its audiences on world Catholic channels and networks.
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Saturday afternoon, April 3, some five hundred pilgrims walked the paths leading to the miraculous cave, where, according to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.
A site that is idling when no less than "
15,000 to 20,000
" people usually frequent the sanctuary "
in normal years
", indicates the director of communications David Torchala.
Last year, in full confinement, the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes was closed to the public for the first time in its history, for this key moment of the Catholic faith which marks the start of seven months of pilgrimages.
"
TV Lourdes has become a veritable marshalling yard for TV partners and social networks
", underlines Mr. Torchala adding, "
in 20 years I have never seen so many innovations as in recent months: it is a sanctuary which reinvents itself
”.
Thus, "
since the first confinement, the audiences of the retransmissions have multiplied by five, we reach five million viewers and listeners live via five international TV partners
", in particular "
the French-speaking channel, very followed in the East, KTO but also the Italian antenna TV 2000 or even the American channel EWTN
”.
The Sanctuary's Youtube channel "
has won the loyalty
" of no less than 250,000 subscribers and has accumulated 59 million views since its creation, while its Facebook page is approaching 800,000 followers, said the communicant.
According to him, "
these new means have made it possible to keep the link
" with the faithful while "
all the pilgrimages for the month of April have been canceled
", in particular an Italian pilgrimage - the first foreign nationality - and a pilgrimage from Grande -Brittany which allows 5,000 disabled children to come to the site.
Limited losses thanks to donations
"
The (new) confinement is a hard blow but we have hope
", confesses the director of communication who hopes that "
from the summer
" the sanctuary will be able "to
welcome French pilgrims and perhaps Spanish or Italians
”, failing to see“
distant pilgrims, Asian or South American
”.
Read also: Easter disrupted once again by the Covid
In 2020, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, which employs 320 people in normal times, recorded a loss of 4 million euros.
A limited loss "
which could have been twice as important without the mobilization of donors
".
"
When the sanctuary comes to a halt, the whole ecosystem of a city comes to a halt
", we still notice a few rare tourists strolling on Saturday in the shopping streets of the Marian city when "
they are in the thousands. usually
”.