Putting your faith in GPS, it appears, is not as reliable as putting your faith in the Lord.
An increasing number of Catholic pilgrims are learning this lesson first-hand as they show up in the unremarkable French village of Lourde — no “s” — and wait in vain for a miracle that never comes.
NOTHING SPECIAL
Nestling in the Pyrenean border country south of Toulouse, this little hamlet of 94 people has little in common with Lourdes, the world-famous holy site located about 90km to the west. It has no hotels, no shops and certainly no history of Marian apparitions.
So when they arrive in their cars, having misspelled the name of their destination on their navigational system, the new arrivals are understandably confused.
“They are all surprised to see that Lourde[s] is so small; they ask you about the underground caves,” one village councilor told French radio on Wednesday.
“One day, a hearse showed up. The driver stopped in front of the map [of the area]. I advised him to have a look in the 65 [Haute-Pyrenees departement] instead,” Lourde Mayor Robert Amblard told La Depeche newspaper.
POINTING THE WAY
Ever since the mid-19th century, when the unassuming market town of Lourdes became a pilgrimage point for Catholics all over the world, residents of the lesser-known Lourde have been used to having to point outsiders to the right road.
However, since the development of GPS, they say, the strays have become far more numerous.
“For two years now ... more and more people are getting it wrong. We have Spaniards, Dutch, Belgians and of course French people. It’s proof that they can’t use technology,” said Louis, a local man.
IN ALL SERIOUSNESS
Occasionally, it takes the errant pilgrims a while to notice they have taken a wrong turn, the residents say. Some of them, they claim, even confuse the village’s modest statue of the Virgin Mary with the Statue of Our Lady at the Grotto of Massabielle, and lay their wreaths with great seriousness.
Despite the confusion, the villagers are resisting calls for them to modify their name in a bid to help pilgrims save themselves from orthographical recklessness.
“I don’t see why we should change our name,” one local told RTL radio. “There is Bagneres de Luchon and Bagneres de Bigorre and people manage to get by.”
The resident, who was not named by the radio station, added: “Even without an ‘s,’ we are still a nice village.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of