It is this Sunday that the pilgrimage season should have started in Lourdes, in the Hautes-Pyrénées. But the sanctuary of the Marian city has been closed since March 17 for an indefinite period, a first in its history, because of the epidemic of coronavirus. Within the site, the Accueil Notre-Dame has been transformed into a shelter for patients with Covid-19 in a precarious situation.
This structure usually receives sick or fragile people who, like millions of Catholics each year, wish to make a pilgrimage to Lourdes. The center will be able to receive "people without serious illness who cannot be followed in their collective structure or people with no fixed abode", according to the prefecture of Hautes-Pyrénées.
Covid-19: the #Lourdes sanctuary to the aid of the Hautes-Pyrénées prefect https://t.co/j0CqLPmcg2
- Sanctuary of Lourdes (@lourdes_france) April 2, 2020Its access "is not subject to administrative conditions relating to the right of residence of foreigners or the opening of rights to Health Insurance", state services state.
"The first patients could be received imminently," said Monsignor Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, the rector of the sanctuary. “It all depends on the people who are listed as sick. There must be a doctor who comes to say that they are able to come to Accueil Notre-Dame. It is this passage from the doctors that we are waiting for today [Thursday]. We are ready to welcome and as soon as we have the green light, we will be effective, ”he added.
Twenty-one beds available
“We have 21 beds available, with the possibility, if necessary, of increasing the number. But it is not a matter of having a bed, you have to have the staff who goes with it, as well to take care of everything that is hotel and medical, but also support because they are people who , for some, are on the street, "he continued.
Coordinated by the Regional Health Agency (ARS), care will be provided by members of the Red Cross, as well as health professionals and sanctuary personnel.
“In many dioceses, Christians help people who are vulnerable. The sanctuary of Lourdes has always had a vocation of welcoming the sick and it is normal that it can participate in this effort to the extent of its possibilities ”, concluded Mgr Dumas.
Six deaths linked to Covid-19, including five in nursing homes, were recorded in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, where 62 confirmed cases were identified, according to the prefecture.
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