Authorities have vowed everything will be done to protect pilgrims. A ring of security will remain in place at Lourdes around the sanctuary until Tuesday August 16th. While authorities around France have been cancelling summer events over security concerns, authorities in the Catholic pilgrimage town of Lourdes are insistent that life must go on as normal. Normally Lourdes is accessed by 12 different points of entry however that will be reduced to three for the August 15th event. "The choice was made to not ban the event, nor the procession or the rituals that go with the pilgrimage, because it is the right of the faithful to access Lourdes," Lagarde told Europe1 radio.

Source: The Local August 09, 2016 07:41 UTC