New Rector appointed to Lourdes
A new Rector has been appointed to the Shrine of Lourdes, by Mgr Nicolas Brouwet, Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes. Father André Cabes succeeds Father Horacio Brito in the post.
Father André Cabes was ordained to the priesthood in the Rosary Basilica in Lourdes on 26 June 1977. He then entered the community of the Chaplains of Lourdes until 1995. He was notably in charge of the Youth Service until 1989.
Since 2012, Father André has been Rector of the Church of the Trinità dei Monti, in Rome. His appointment as Rector coincides with the announcement of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy which starts on 8 December. Many thousands of pilgrims are expected in Lourdes for the Jubilee Year.
"Mercy is a heart which opens up to the suffering of the other," Father André Cabes explains. "In Lourdes, Mary was able to reach Bernadette and draw her out of her cachot to entrust her with a mission: to offer a path to the source. How many people today have lost that path?
"Pope Francis asks the Church to go and meet tired and sick people, as a sign of God's loving tenderness. So we have to again allow ourselves to be shown the way by the light streaming from the encounter between Mary and Bernadette. We have to identify the Bernadettes of today and drink with them at the source of the Gospel. In Lourdes, as in an oasis in the desert of the world, we shall draw from the well of hope ".