More than 50,000 people gathered at a Marian pilgrimage center in the eastern Indian state of Odisha on March 5 to celebrate its feast after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
“We are here after the Covid pandemic to thank God who loves unconditionally and who is always willing to grant Mother Mary’s intercession for all of us,” said Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar.
The Divine Word prelate remembered Komoladevi, a local Hindu widow whose vision of the Blessed Virgin led to the setting up of the pilgrimage center in 1994 in the village, about 250 km southwest of Bhubaneswar, the state capital. She died of Covid-19 in 2020.
Father Mukund Dev of the parish of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Daringbadi and a member of the managing committee of the shrine, said more than 50,000 people attended this year’s feast. The gathering included 55 priests and 25 nuns.
Saraj Nayak, secretary of development committee of the shrine, said the people prayed for Mother Mary’s intervention to bring peace and harmony between warring Russia and Ukraine.
“We also pray that the Vatican declare 36 Catholic victims of anti-Christian violence in 2008 as martyrs of the Church,” he added.
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