Over 1,000 pilgrims to read Bible for 130 hours in Lourdes

MOSCOW, September 20 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 1,400 believers will read the Bible for 130 hours at Europe's most popular Christian pilgrimage site dedicated to the Mother of God in the French city of Lourdes, Polish Catholic news agency KAI reported Sunday.

The event, entitled "Lourdes: The Bible, Day and Night," will start September 26 and last until October 1. It will be held in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, where Mary the Mother of God is reported to have miraculously appeared on numerous occasions.

The previous such "marathon" that lasted 140 hours took place in Rome, in the Basilica of the Holy Cross, in October 2008, with 1,200 readers, including Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone and the Russian Orthodox Church's Hilarion, then Bishop of Vienna and Austria, involved in the effort.

Up to 5 million pilgrims visit Lourdes annually. The Roman Catholic Church has officially recognized 67 miraculous healings from the shrine, out of over 7,000 cases reported by Lourdes doctors since 1860.