The day has arrived where our pilgrims set off to Lourdes.

This year marks 100 years since the initial pilgrimage to Lourdes. The archdiocese has gone every year since 1923 with the only exceptions for the Second World War, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Everyone was in good spirits arriving at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, all excited in anticipation of the latest pilgrimage out there.

Among those present were people who had been going for many years, and others who had not been going as long.

Fr Grant Maddock, who has been on the organising committee for 20 years, was delighted to see so many people returning to the pilgrimage.

"Certainly, we felt it last year when we started dipping our toe back in," he said.

"People were obviously anxious last year that we'd have the COVID regulations in place and of course, our regulations over here were different to those in France.

"So we would constantly have to read the two different realities. France were a lot more stringent on wearing masks and the COVID passes last year.

"So trying to keep up-to-date with that was a challenge. I think it did affect people as they were fearful of travel still but there was still around  750 of us. Although we were 500-600 down on our normal number, it's obvious this year that that fear is abated and people are more confident to travel.

"So we're back in full force and everybody's ready to celebrate in style."

Meanwhile, Fr Mark Beattie, who has been going on the pilgrimage for the past 40 years, said:" I think for many people, Lourdes feels like home. It's a place where they feel close to God and to Mary.

"But it's a place where people care for one another. Where we really see love in action. And that's always uplifting. You can never get tired of that."

The Youth pilgrimage set off 24 hours beforehand from across the archdiocese. They started the 26-hour long journey to Lourdes.