Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi: Lourdes for everyone
Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi has signed an agreement with the airline company, Albastar, for the scheduling of direct flights to Lourdes operating on Mondays and Thursdays, which provides integrated services directed at end-users with the aim of enriching the spiritual experience of every pilgrim who reaches their destination.
On Thursday 8 June at 11.00, at the Palazzo Vicariato Vecchio (Via della Pigna 13 a), the partnership, which provides direct flights to the French townof Lourdes from Rome Fiumicino airport, and the strategic collaboration were presented and illustrated.
Over the years, Albastar has succeeded in establishing itself as the leading airline for flights to the French town of Lourdes, with flights departing from several European airports. It is precisely from this destination, that the carrier begins its activity in 2015, becoming a major European partner in the religious tourism sector, transporting about 80,000 pilgrims every year. In addition, the specialised training in hospitals of its cabin crew for the care and assistance of people with reduced mobility, combined with the utmost dedication to pilgrims, have allowed the airline to offer its passengers a high-quality service.
This new collaboration between ORP and the airline, has allowed the project that Opera and the Sanctuary of Lourdes have been working on for some time, to get underway. The gradual generational change in the world of pilgrimages and the possibility of booking flights, hotels and services online, allows more and more pilgrims to arrive in Lourdes independently. For many years, Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi has been accompanyingtens of thousands of pilgrims every year from Italy to the Massabielle Grotto, it will now also welcomeindividual, Italian speaking pilgrims directly in Lourdes and guide them in a unique experience.
LOURDES FOR EVERYONE by ORP is the new project that will see the presence of ORP personnel at Tarbes-Lourdes airport and inside the Sanctuary to welcome pilgrims by offering a pilgrim kit that will allow them to join ORP pilgrimages taking place and understand the message of Lourdes in more depth by participating in all the celebrations of the Sanctuary and in the visits to pilgrimage sites.“The partnership between the Sanctuary and ORP offers individual pilgrims to begin a journey of faith, be it personal or communitarian. The aim is to offer people who have heard about Lourdes or who have already visited the pilgrimage sites, to be accompanied along their journey and allow them to be embraced by grace. A pilgrimage is a meeting with God, with others, with oneself. This is the objective that the project aims to achieve.” says Mons. D’Arodes de Peyriague, VVice-Rector of the Shrine of Lourdes and International Pastoral Coordinator.
“We have shared our many years of experience in welcoming pilgrims in Rome with the Sanctuary. Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi has anticipated the changes that have taken place in the pilgrimage sector and today meets the needs of individual pilgrims, young people and families, by providing low cost direct flights and a range of services that will allow everyone to experience the unique and unforgettable Lourdes, in a completely new way” says Mons. Liberio Andreatta, Managing Director of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi
