Bienvenue, Benedict: The pope does Paris

Pope Benedict XVI, who has made the declining state of Christianity in Europe one of the major concerns of his papacy, today arrived at Orly for a four-day visit to a relentlessly secular France. He is in Paris until tomorrow; he then heads to Lourdes and is to be there until his return to Rome on Monday. The occasion for the visit is the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Lourdes; in 1858, 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous had visions of Mary in a grotto there, and now vast throngs of pilgrims visit, believing that an underground spring in the grotto has healing qualities.

According to the Vatican, 75 percent of France's 61 million residents are Catholic. But church attendance is low and there is a lot of tension over religion in the public square.

The Wall Street Journal previewed the trip yesterday. An excerpt:

"The staunchly secular French intelligentsia will likely prove a tough crowd. Even among the Catholic faithful in the streets, the pontiff faces the risk of a muted reaction. Because many French see religion as a private matter, Church officials question whether the pontiff will draw the kinds of crowds seen during other papal visits, including his recent one to the U.S. In a 2007 Pew Global Attitudes survey, only 17% of French Catholics said faith is required for morality; just 13% pray at least once a day; and just 12% consider religion very important to their lives. In the U.S., those numbers come in at 53%, 50% and 48%, while in Germany they are 53%, 38%, and 36%. In May, the Archdiocese of Paris held focus group research with nonpracticing Catholics, quizzing them for a "fresh perspective" on what makes the pontiff appealing, according to Marie Baudoin, the Archdiocese spokeswoman. Results showed more interest in the pope-mobile, the pontiff's bubble-backed bulletproof ride, than in the pontiff himself."

On Sunday, the LA Times Travel section took a look at the phenomenon that is Lourdes. An excerpt:

"Six million people visit Lourdes every year, including 100,000 volunteers and 80,000 ill and disabled pilgrims seeking cures for their afflictions or the strength to endure them. Since 1858, about 6,800 people have reported being cured at St. Bernadette's grotto, though the Roman Catholic Church has proclaimed only 67 of these to be miracles and hasn't recorded the number of spiritual healings said to have occurred at Lourdes. Other people come just to witness the sociological phenomenon that daily unfolds; some are cynical or mystified or simply curious, in the way of travelers drawn to other holy sites around the world."

(Photo, showing Pope Benedict XVI arriving at Orly today, by Francois Durand/Getty Images.)