Top Ten Catholic Shrines

Excluding the Vatican, according to Archbishop Francesco Gioia, O.F.M. Cap, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, the most visited shrines of the Catholic Church in 2001 were:

  1. The Virgin of Guadalupe, Patroness of all America, in Mexico City (10 million)
  2. San Giovanni Rotondo (6–7 million)
  3. The Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in the city of Aparecida in the state of São Paulo, Brazil
  4. The Basilique du Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre, Paris
  5. Czestochowa in Poland
  6. Lourdes in France
  7. Luján in Argentina
  8. Fatima in Portugal
  9. The Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua, Italy
  10. Santiago de Compostela in Spain

Additional popular places of worship are: The Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Italy, The Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii, Italy, and Shrine of the Holy House in Loreto, Italy; Shrine of Our Lady of Mariazell, Mariazel, Austria; Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, Knock, Ireland; Saint John of the Valley in Texas; the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.; and the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast. How many of these great pilgrimage sites have you visited? Make at least one holy pilgrimage in your life.


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