69,000 pilgrims in Spain this year
November 23, 2003
From a News article this morning:
"Over the past two decades, the recorded number of pilgrims trekking to Santiago de Compostela has soared from just 120 in 1982, to nearly 69,000 this year. An expert on the pilgrimage, Olivier Cebe, says the surge has been astonishing, particularly since most of the pilgrims are Europeans, and church attendance in Europe is plummeting. . .
"Father Garcia says pilgrims may not tell strangers the truth, but the truth is written on the church's registers. He says more than nine out of ten pilgrims who receive their certificates cite religious motives for their journey.
"Indeed, the growing number of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela is fueling the Catholic Church's ongoing effort to get some sort of religious reference into the new European constitution now being drafted. Next April, Church leaders will host a conference in Santiago, on Europe's spiritual roots. The timing coincides with the entry of 10 new countries into the European Union and with a special Holy Year of St. James in the Catholic Church."
If you were following my old blog, you would know that we walked part of the Camino in July this year and had a fantastic, transformational time. I just posted a few photos that I stole from Teresa's old Europe Blog.
It's Sunday morning and I am listening to Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble? from the album "Cutting Edge" by Delirious