Thursday the 24 th of June 2004 at 12noon, the Press Office of the Holy See has confirmed that Pope John Paul II will visit Lourdes on 14 th and 15 th August 2004 .

Bishop Jacques Perrier, Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes , and Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard, President of the French Episcopal Conference, have invited the Holy Father to come on pilgrimage to Lourdes to celebrate the 150 th Anniversary of the Declaration of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

This will be the seventh visit of John Paul II to mainland France . He last visited Lourdes in 1983. His last visit to France took place in 1997, for the World Youth Days in Paris.

A Website dedicated to the visit of Pope John Paul II to Lourdes- http://lourdes2004.cef.fr - will be accessible from Monday the 28 th of June 2004 .

The application forms for official passes will be available on the Press Section of the Website: http://lourdes2004.cef.fr from June 28 th to July 14 th of 2004.