Last week was very eventful, especially insofar as the politics of ecclesiastical crisis and scandal are concerned, so it is quite possible readers missed a significant item out of the Vatican, regarding the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. On Thursday, the Holy See put the popular pilgrimage site under the control of a special delegate.
Some media reported the development as a “takeover” of the popular and beloved sanctuary. A few Catholic outlets made much of Pope Francis’s choice for his delegate: Bishop Antoine Hérouard, auxiliary of Lille and president of the European bishops’ social affairs commission, who has expressed concern over the rise of populist and Eurosceptic political movements and described the debate over the Christian roots of Europe as “no longer relevant”.
