Controls on participants in Lourdes Congress

FIRM rules have been laid down about attendance at the International Eucharistic Congress due to take place in Lourdes next year. They stipulate that no one will be admitted unless they have been registered with their national committee, Two thousand places have been set aside for Catholics from England and Wales. They will be allotted by the national committee set up by the bishops under Bishop Thomas Holland of Salford. All applications must be made through the committee, and places will be allocated on a diocesan basis with a number being reserved for extra-diocesan or ecumenical organisations.
Each diocese has its own representative responsible for handling applications and the committee has said that they will he accepted on a "first come, first served" basis.
The Congress will' last from July 16 to 23. during which time all pilgrimages to Lourdes have been suspended as well as all the usual pilgrimage devotions and spiritual exercises, such as the blessing of the sick and the daily torchlight procession.
The Congress Committee in Lourdes has also decided to limit the number of sick people participating in the Congress to 300 to be drawn from all the countries taking part. The committee feels that it would be imprudent to subject the sick to the ordeals of such a large gathering.
The theme of the Congress is "Jesus Christ: bread broken for a new world." Pope John Paul is to attend and will be the main celebrant at an open air Mass on Tarbes airport, probably on July 21.
In a letter to Cardinal Knox, president of the permanent Congress committee, the Pope described the Congress as "a special time of prayer and spiritual renewal for the whole Church". It should show how Eucharistic belief and devotion had developed over the years.