France is currently in a state of emergency, which is part of the French government’s response to the recent spate of terrorist attacks on its soil. As part of this general tightening up of security, special measures were in place in Lourdes over the weekend, and especially on Monday, August 15, the feast of the Assumption, which is a national holiday in France and which typically sees large crowds at the shrine of Our Lady at the foot of the Pyrenees.

None of the security measures taken is designed to be disruptive to the pilgrims visiting the shrine, and all such measures will be accepted as both necessary precautions and a sign of the times we live in. They also serve as a salutary reminder that Lourdes must inevitably be a target for the terrorists, just as much as Fr Hamel saying Mass was. Those who claim, against all the evidence, that this is not a religious war, need to bear this in mind.