Holy Year Draws Pilgrim Crowds to Spanish Shrine
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SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain  - Rafael Lopez has  just walked 530 miles, he's lost count of the blisters on his  feet, he's been queuing for three hours in pouring rain to get  into a church -- and he's ecstatic.
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KERBALA, Iraq  - Over a million Shi'ite pilgrims defied bombers and gunmen to flock to the Iraqi holy city of Kerbala on Wednesday, the day after scores were killed in a string of attacks likely to fuel sectarian bitterness.
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LOURDES, France  - In an unexpected twist of  globalization, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and other pilgrims  regularly worship at famous Roman Catholic shrines to the  Virgin Mary such as Lourdes in France and Fatima in Portugal.
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Hundreds of pilgrims and a new Palestinian leadership came to Bethlehem for Christmas as the town of Jesus's birth celebrated the festival with new hopes for peace following Yasser Arafat's death.
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Tens of thousands barefoot Filipino Catholic devotees jostled for a chance to touch a black statue of Jesus in an annual procession Wednesday, seeking blessings or forgiveness for their sins.
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Across a valley of fragrant cedars and orange trees, worshipers at the pristine Great Mosque of Granada look out at the Alhambra, the 700-year-old citadel and monument to the heyday of Islamic glory.
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SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain, AUG. 22, 2004 ( Zenit.org ).- Participants in the 2004 European Youth Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela left little doubt about where their loyalties lie.
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Millions of Muslims from around the world gathered in Mecca Sunday for the start of the annual Islamic hajj pilgrimage, as the Saudi Interior Ministry announced tough security precautions.
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Many of the country's grandest fiestas align with major celebrations within the Roman Catholic Church, but residents celebrate indigenous gods and beliefs, too.
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Hundreds of thousands of people are are expected to attend an open-air mass today when Pope John Paul II visits the marian shrine in Loreto, about 125 miles northeast of Rome.
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Pope John Paul II led prayers for peace and a more tranquil future, pilgrims flocked to Bethlehem and Iraqis stayed away from church for fear of bomb attacks as Christians around the world celebrated Christmas over the weekend.
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To the Editor: Each year, approximately 2 million Muslims travel from all over the world to participate in hajj.
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An emerging thaw in Israeli-Palestinian relations helped draw several thousand pilgrims to the traditional birthplace of Jesus on Christmas Eve, but crowds were far smaller than during the mid-1990s.
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Masses are held in Bethlehem and Rome as millions of Christians around the world mark the birth of Jesus Christ.
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ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia  - Muslim pilgrims poured on to the plain of Arafat east of Mecca on Tuesday as the sun rose over the rocky hills for the day marking the climax of the annual haj pilgrimage.
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More than two million Muslims stand on Mount Arafat for the high point of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
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Spain is marking the third anniversary of the Madrid terror bombings that killed 191 people on Sunday with the unveiling of a towering glass monument bearing messages of condolence left written in the days ...Comment