Lourdes Needs Manna From Heaven

The Catholic shrine of Lourdes yesterday opened a special bank account and appealed for donations from the faithful after it emerged that last weekend's visit by the Pope had left it with a €1.2m (£812,000) deficit.

"The figures are bad," admitted Monsignor Jacques Perrier, the Bishop of Lourdes. "We've covered only about 15% of the visit's cost. We need to find €1.2m."

Mr Perrier said the visit's organisers had been planning to recoup the vast majority of their €1.5m expenses from donations at the mass read by the pontiff during his two-day visit to the Pyrenees shrine, which draws Catholics seeking miracle cures.

But the 200,000-plus visitors, including thousands of sick people in hospital beds and wheelchairs, who attended Sunday's open-air mass, held in sweltering sunshine, left only €185,000 between them - apparently because many were so keen to get good seats that they rushed past the collection boxes.

"The problem was that things went too smoothly," Mr Perrier told the Catholic daily La Croix.

"We had recommended that pilgrims leave €10 each at the shrine, but our appeal was based on the idea that they would be held up by security checks and have plenty of time to prepare their gift.

"In fact, there were no delays at all."

The bishop said he had "no worries whatsoever" that church members would send money. "Lots of people were very touched by this event, so I'm sure people will be very generous," he said. "Lourdes will not shut down."

At the weekend, the Pope struggled to get through the two-hour service, at times gasping, trembling and asking aides for help and water.