How ridiculous is airport security these days? Brand-new pilgrimage-to-holy-shrines Mistral Air a passenger had her holy water snatched on the way from Lourdes, France back to Rome.

An airport official said the security screeners were just doing their jobs:

All passengers are obliged to respect the rules and not go over the quantities (of liquid) permitted

Fair enough. Even the passenger in question agreed that she wasn't too bothered:

They did well, and that's that. We need to be super respectful of the law because it's not about me or pilgrims. But if I had been a fake pilgrim, who would take responsibility?

We're just sorry that when we finally get a chance to check out Mistral, they'll no longer be handing out the Virgin Mary-shaped bottles of holy water as part of the pre-flight ritual.

Related Stories:
· Mistral Air coverage
· Airport Security coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: La Repubblica]]]> pbb 2007-08-30T10:30:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/4/3/01857/48470 Having something branded as a Lourdes miracle has gotten a little easier due to a bishop's reform of the definitions. As the conservative rules stood before now, any claims to a miracle were voided if a patient was taking medicine or receiving treatment. The new reform allows for new categories that don't rule out modern technology: "'unexpected healings', 'confirmed healings' and 'exceptional healings'".

Only 67 official miracles are on record since a peasant girl named Bernadette said that she saw the Virgin Mary in a cave here in 1858, turning the site into a major tourist attraction for many Catholics. There have been only four official miracles since 1978. Not counting the 1980 Miracle on Ice, of course.

Related Stories:
·   Lourdes lobbies for more miracles [Sunday Times]
·   Lourdes miracles get a little easier [Guardian]
]]> johnrambow 2006-04-03T10:05:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/