This was a special year for the order, the celebration of the 150^th Anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin to Saint Bernadette in 1858, and the Jubilee of the Order of Malta on its 50^th year assisting malades and pilgrims from all over the world in their yearly International pilgrimage to the Sanctuary.

During the 2007 Pilgrimage, the Bishop of Lourdes, the Right Reverend Jacques Perrier, announced that the Order’s international character meant that it would be entrusted with one of the twelve missions: the Church in mission among nations. The patron of this mission is the Blessed John XXIII, chosen for his celebrated social encyclicals.

With the occasion of this 150^th  anniversary, the Penitentiary Mayor of the Church said that “each of the faithful, truly repentant, duly purified by the sacrament of confession, fed with the sacred Communion and, last, with prayers for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, may gain plenary indulgences each day, and also apply, by way of suffrage, to the souls of the faithful who are in Purgatory”, if they devoutly visit from December 8, 2007 to September 8, 2008, following the priority proposed: (i) the parish baptistery used for the baptism of Bernadette, (ii) the house called "cachot” or Dungeon where  the Soubirous family lived, (iii) grotto of Massabielle, (iv) the chapel of the hospice where Bernadette received first Communion; and in each of these four places the pilgrim spends some time in pious meditation, concluding with the recitation of the following prayers: the Our Father, the profession of faith (creed) and the Jubilee prayer or any other Marian invocation.

The Order of Malta has organized an exhibition at Lourdes on relations among nations, inspired by the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes and by the Social Encyclicals of John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II.

The Cuban Association of the Order of Malta has been participating in the International Pilgrimages for many years.

It was chosen to organize the 2008 International Pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes for the Latin American associations of the Order. The group travelled to Lourdes from May 2 until May 6, for this international celebration.

There were more than 60 participants from Latin America: knights, dames, M.D.’s and auxiliaries, from our Cuban Association and our Delegation from Puerto Rico, and from the associations from Honduras, Panama, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic.

Our participants cooperated in assisting the maladies in the Hospital at Lourdes, at the pools, or as stretcher-bearers helping our other associations with their maladies and guests.

During the International Pilgrimage, at the opening Mass officiated by Cardinal Pio Laghi and during the Ceremony commemorating the Jubilee of the Order, our Grand Master, Fra’ Mathew Festing presided over these events.  

The Grand Master also presided over the ceremony giving commemorative medals to the knights, dames and auxiliaries participating in this pilgrimage.

This year there were more than 8,000 participants from the national associations of the Order, of which more than 1,500 were malades from 42 countries where the order is present around the world.