Pilgrims in Lourdes are increasingly falling prey to pickpockets as organised gangs of thieves target the holy site in southern France, where the atmosphere of religious devotion lulls many visitors into a false sense of security.
"Many people think when they arrive in Lourdes nothing can happen and they leave their handbags open wider than they would in Paris," said Philippe Subercaze, a city councillor in charge of security.
"In Lourdes, they think the Virgin will protect them and nothing will happen to them.”
Pickpocketing thefts have more than doubled from 117 in the first nine months of last year to 274 so far this year, according to Philippe Aurignac, the local prosecutor. “It is cash they go for.”
Most of the thefts occur in the centre of the town in the foothills of the Pyrenees, near the shrine where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared before a peasant girl in a grotto in 1858.
The Roman Catholic church has officially recognised dozens of miracles in which the sick or infirm have been cured after bathing in water from a spring in the grotto.
PASCAL PAVANI/AFP via Getty Images
Many visitors are targeted in streets near the shrine, which are lined with shops selling religious trinkets and memorabilia.
“The pickpockets are highly organised professionals," Mr Subercaze said. "They arrive in waves and change all the time. As soon as one is identified or arrested, they are replaced. It’s a game of cat and mouse.”
The local authorities have installed about 50 CCTV cameras since last year and church officials in charge of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes have installed more around the shrine.
Lourdes is one of the world’s most revered sites for Roman Catholics. With a population of about 14,000, it attracted more than 770,000 pilgrims last year, according to official figures, but the local authority estimates that the total number of visitors was far higher, with many tourists spending only a few hours there.
Officials are determined to stem the rise in thefts and are warning visitors not to let their guard down.
Slowly but surely, the message appears to be getting through. "A couple had their things stolen a few days ago, so now I take more care," Anna Maria, from Naples, told AFP. "I keep my bag pressed close to my body.”
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