NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      ROME, 27 (NE) The Sanctuary of our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico, has been in 1998 the most visited sanctuary in the world. According to calculations offered this week by the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, approximately 14 million pilgrims venerated the Patron of the American Continent in this sanctuary.

      At some distance, with 7.5 million pilgrims, is the sanctuary of Saint Giovanni Rotondo, where the recently beatified Padre Pio of Pietrelcina lived during many years of his life. The third place would correspond to another Marian sanctuary in Latin America: The Sanctuary of our Lady of Aparecida, where Brazilians venerate the Mother of God, receives almost 7.3 million visitors.

      Czestochowa (Poland), Lourdes (France), Lujan (Argentina), Fatima (Portugal) and Padua (Italy), welcomed about five million pilgrims in 1998. Finally, Santiago of Compostela (Spain), Asissi and Loreto (Italy) received an esteemed number of 4.5 million pilgrims.

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