Benedict prays at Lourdes shrine
Pope Benedict prayed at the site where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a French peasant girl 150 years ago, and asked the world not to forget the victims of terrorism and hatred.
The pope arrived in the southwestern town of Lourdes on the second day of his visit to France after celebrating an outdoor Mass for more than 250,000 people in Paris, telling them that the modern world had made idols of money and power.
At Lourdes, Benedict prayed in the grotto where Bernadette Soubirous said she had seen the Madonna 18 times in 1858, and drank water from a spring that believers say has healing powers.
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