Paris, Jul 16 (AP) One of the Catholic Church's holiest sites, Lourdes, is holding its first-ever online pilgrimage on Thursday, to mark the anniversary of claims by 19th-century girl Bernadette Soubirous that the Virgin Mary appeared to her.

July 16 marks the anniversary of Bernadette's visions, and the discovery of allegedly healing spring waters. It led the church to build a cathedral there in southern France near the Pyrenees.

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The day-long celebrations include Masses, processions and prayers, in addition to priests and guests speaking about how Lourdes has impacted their lives. It's being called “Lourdes United,” and is being broadcast all day until 10 pm.

As well as being a holy site, Lourdes also attracts around 3 million pilgrims a year — the second most popular place after Paris — and the region's tourism has badly suffered during the coronavirus crisis.(AP)

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)