Flood Waters Threaten the Shrine of the Virgin of Lujan Patroness of Argentina

Argentina:  Flood in the Marian Pilgrimage site of Lujan.  The Basilica of the Virgin of Lucan (National Patroness) is standing under water.  Pope John Paul II had visited the miraculous image in 1982.

Buenos Aires (kath.net/KNA/pl) After significant rainfalls, the religious structure at the national shrine of Lujan is threatened with flooding.  As the newspaper "Clarin" (Friday) reported, the Basilica of the Virgin of Lujan is under water.  The flood waters have even entered into the crypt.   According to details from the Rector of the Basilica, Jose Daniel Blanchoud, there are in any case no "valuable and historically important" objects in danger, because they are about 1.2 meters above water.

The administration of Lujan hopes that the water which has swelled the river Lujan will flow into the harbor in the coming days.  In any case, there is more rainfall forecast for this weekend for the province of Buenos Aires.

In 1982 Pope John Paul II had visited the icon of the Patroness of Argentina, the "Virgin of Lujan".  According to Tradition, the miraculous image came to the place in 1630 where it wanted to stay, it resisted later attempts to replace it, in order to find a new place.  The current Neo-Gothic Cathedral was consecrated in 1930.

According to reports from the Argentinian Bishops' Conference, 30,000 pilgrims come to the Patroness of the South American nation in a small city an hour away from Buenos Aires.  Reports say more than a million Catholics took part in a youth procession some weeks before. - A few weeks before this the Marian Pilgrimage site of Lourdes was flooded after strong rainfall.