The one word Pope Leo XIV used to summarize his recent apostolic journey to France was “rebirth.” If Katie Kokoskie, who was present for the historic visit, could summarize her experience in one word, it might be “joy.”

Kokoskie is the Communications Manager for Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality North American Lourdes Volunteers (NALV). She spoke with Aleteia about the Pope's recent visit to Lourdes: “What struck me was the joy in the air! Lourdes is a place of great peace, but this weekend felt electric and joyful with 150,000 pilgrims.”

Via the Lourdes Volunteers Instagram and Facebook accounts, Kokoskie posted multiple updates and shared some livestreams from the three-day papal visit to creatively share this unique pilgrimage with their “Lourdes Family.” She was humbled to help record “behind the scenes” footage for their “My Lourdes Faith Journey” television show which airs weekly on EWTN. 

One particular moment of blessing and joy, she said, was when Pope Leo wanted to speak to the sick in front of the Accueil Notre-Dame de Lourdes. “This is our ‘home away from home’ when we go on pilgrimage. It is a hospital-like facility where we eat, pray, and stay as one pilgrimage family.” (It also where St. John Paul II stayed during his August 2004 visit to Lourdes.)

That location also holds special meaning for Kokoskie, whose first trip to Lourdes was as a pilgrim in need of healing herself. 

In 2013, Kokoskie was diagnosed with chronic fatigue, adrenal fatigue, and Hashimoto’s disease. For the formerly “vibrant working mother of two who volunteered teaching art,” not being able to get herself off the couch was more than an inconvenience. 

Kokoskie’s parents had been introduced to Lourdes’ Volunteers and been on pilgrimage with the group some years before. They invited her to join a supportive care pilgrimage to Lourdes in June 2014, but she said no — she wasn’t “sick enough.” Her impression was that “only the sick and dying go to Lourdes … I knew I was sick, but in my heart, I didn’t want to take away from someone else who might need the graces more than me.”

After much persistence, Kokoskie eventually said “yes, because that is what a good daughter would do... Little did I know that this would be a life-changing experience.” She also didn’t realize that her “yes” was an act of obedience not only to her earthly parents, but to her heavenly Father and Blessed Mother. 

Arriving to Lourdes, accompanied by her parents, Kokoskie thought just having the opportunity was enough. “Even though I was going to a place known for healings, I really didn’t expect anything for myself."

“The pilgrimage is arduous for sick pilgrims due to the actual travel schedule," she continued. "The sick are always 100% fully supported by North American Volunteers medical team consisting of doctors, nurses, OTs, PTs, and clergy. This comprehensive medical team calls the pilgrims, develops supportive care plans, and are alongside the sick during the whole pilgrimage.” She explained the doctors and nurses pay their own way, “to be the hands and feet of Christ to the many sick pilgrims each pilgrimage.” 

Although optional, all pilgrims who travel with NALV can schedule a visit to the baths if they choose. The baths are filled with water from the spring in the Grotto — the very spring that Bernadette found by Our Lady’s instruction in the ninth apparition (February 25, 1858) — that now flows 30,000 gallons of Lourdes water a day. This water is run to the taps in the Sanctuary for people to drink and wash; it also fills the cabins in the baths. 

Kokoskie had a bath appointment for her fourth day. “I was a bit nervous ... but then a sense of peace came over me when I looked at the flowers at Our Lady’s feet inside the baths, which were stargazer lilies. I knew this was a sign for me that everything would be fine. I went into the waters and came out completely dry, which is a typical experience for those who receive baths.” 

The first person she saw was NALV’s foundress Marlene Watkins. With outstretched arms, Watkins hugged her and tears flowed. She had just come out of Cabin 4, the same one where Watkins had received her own "everyday miracle." From that grace, almost 25 years ago, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality North American Volunteers was founded. 

As shared in an article for her home Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, Kokoskie related, “The tears were flowing like the Gave River, and I was filled with peace. I felt like I was reborn. I received a healing that day in the piscines and my energy was restored!"

Watkins encourages pilgrims to say three Hail Marys at the Crowned Virgin across Rosary Square facing the Basilica’s entrance so Our Lady will bring you back. Kokoskie did just that; “And little did I know Our Lady would bring me back just three months later, working in a Communications role for Lourdes Volunteers.”

During subsequent pilgrimages, Kokoskie has witnessed her own experience repeated -- the healed becoming those who help others find healing, even if not a physical manifestation. Among them, she has met two of the 72 officially recognized Lourdes miracles recipients. 

“Miracle 63,” Vittorio Micheli, was at the train station when Kokoskie met him some years ago. The young Italian soldier visited Lourdes in 1962 after being diagnosed with a cancerous hip tumor. Also urged by his mother to make the pilgrimage, Micheli arrived with part of his pelvis already beyond repair. “God grew back his hip bone when he was immersed in the piscines,” she explained. “He comes back each year to serve and give back in thanksgiving to God.” (Micheli even met his future wife during one of these return visits).

This year, Kokoskie met “Miracle 70,” Sister Bernadette Moriau. Kokoskie was accompanied by NALV Director of Publications and pilgrimage liturgist Antonia Colella. Although they could only communicate with the help of Google Translate, Sister’s joy was clearly understood. The French religious, who suffered a severe spinal nerve disorder, was persuaded by her medical doctor to visit Lourdes in 2008. Her miraculous healing didn’t happen right away but some days after returning home. Eight years of investigation later, what she knew had been an impossible recovery was confirmed by medical doctors and psychiatrists. Her experience can be read in My Life Is a Miracle.

As stated on the NALV “Message of Lourdes” webpage, healing remains the primary reason that pilgrims go to Lourdes. Pilgrims go for themselves or a loved one, or to help those suffering.

“What unites all pilgrims and volunteers is that they go to Lourdes as a response to an invitation made to them by Our Lady who, as Our Heavenly Mother, seeks always to bring us closer to Her Beloved Son. In going to Lourdes, we offer the spiritual and temporal work of making a holy pilgrimage, opening ourselves up to Our Lady and the Message of Lourdes and opening ourselves up to God’s grace.”

Quadriplegic Jamie Jensen from Minnesota was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth. Twenty-five years old in 2006, on his first pilgrimage to Lourdes he prayed for healing. Jensen is preparing to return to Lourdes this October for the 23rd time in 20 years. 

As he shared in a 2022 CBS production, although he did not receive the miracle he prayed for, Jensen received “the miracle he needed.” He serves an invaluable role as a “rough rider,” helping make the international travel more accessible for those with special needs.

As Pope Leo XIV affirmed the sanctity of life and the value of suffering these recent days in Lourdes, he reminded the sick they are not a burden. “You are the beating heart of our humanity and a precious treasure for the Church ... Many of you here in Lourdes are familiar with suffering,” the Holy Father affirmed and invited them to “live your trials and pains in the spirit of offering, and so take part in the redemptive work that the world so greatly needs.” 

His words reiterate the reciprocity of giving and receiving, in suffering and in joy, that is accessible to every person, whether they have set their feet on the Grotto grounds or spiritually hold a burning prayer for peace within their heart.