Pope Francis on Friday elevated Ireland’s National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock to the status of an International Shrine of Eucharistic and Marian Devotion.
He described it as an “important moment in the life of the shrine” and “a great responsibility.”
Pope Francis said the designation would mean always having “your arms wide open as a sign of welcome to every pilgrim who may arrive from any part of the world, asking nothing in return but only recognizing him as a brother or a sister who desires to share the same experience of fraternal prayer.”
Paying tribute to the Irish faithful he said: “You have been a missionary people. We cannot forget how many priests left their homeland in order to become missionaries of the Gospel. Nor can we forget the many lay people who immigrated to faraway lands but still kept their devotion to Our Lady.”
The apparition in Knock occurred Aug. 21, 1879, when Mary, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist appeared at the south gable of the Knock parish church.
The silent apparition was witnessed by 15 people, ranging from young children to the elderly.
St. John Paul II visited Knock in 1979, the centenary of the apparition, as part of his apostolic pilgrimage to Ireland.
Pope Francis, who visited the shrine in 2018 during the World Meeting of Families, said the message that comes from Knock is that of “the great value of silence for our faith.”
“It is this silence in the face of mystery, which does not mean giving up on understanding, but understanding while aided and supported by the love of Jesus, who offered himself for all of us as the Lamb sacrificed for the salvation of humanity.”
