Shrines: Tools of evangelisation

Top Cardinal lauds shrines, calls them treasure in the life of the Church and an important part of the New Evangelisation.

In a climate of widespread secularism, the Shrine continues to be, even to our day, a privileged place in which the human person, a pilgrim here on earth, experiences the loving and saving presence of God. He finds there a fruitful space, away from daily distractions, where he can recollect himself, gather his thoughts and reacquire the spiritual health to re-embark upon the journey of faith with greater ardour. It is there too that he can find space to seek, find and love Christ in his ordinary life, in the midst of the world.

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[I]t gives me great pleasure to note how even today Shrines maintain an extraordinary attraction for the faithful, shown by the growing number of pilgrims that go to them. Frequently one finds men and women of every age and condition, with complex human and spiritual situations, sometimes removed from a sound life of faith or with a fragile sense of ecclesial belonging. To visit a Shrine can be for them a valuable opportunity to encounter Christ or to rediscover their sense of baptismal vocation and to hear its saving call.

Pilgrim prays at the Catholic shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham