'Suffering' pope at Lourdes shrine
 |  Pope John Paul II prays in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary in the grotto of Lourdes. |
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 Pilgrims flock to the French "miracle shrine" town of Lourdes for Pope John Paul II's visit.
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LOURDES, France -- John Paul II is visiting the French "miracle shrine" town of Lourdes where he called himself a sick man among the suffering.
The 84-year-old pope, who arrived Saturday for a two-day visit to the southwestern town where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858, suffers from Parkinson's disease and arthritis.
His frailty was evident in his hesitant airport arrival address to President Jacques Chirac and later at the grotto where the vision is said to have occurred.
The pontiff lost his balance while kneeling to pray and aides rushed to prevent him from falling before seating him back on his wheeled throne.
After several minutes of prayer, he designated a cardinal to read his address for him.
"With you I share a time of life marked by physical suffering, yet not for that reason any less fruitful in God's wondrous plan," he said.
"Dear brothers and sisters who are sick, how I would like to embrace each and every one of you with affection, to tell you how close I am to you and how much I support you."
"With great emotion I wish to join the millions of pilgrims who come to Lourdes each year from every part of the world, in order to entrust to the Mother of the Lord the intentions which they bear in their hearts and to ask for her help and intercession," he said.
The Pope was then wheeled away for some rest before returning to the grotto in the evening for a candlelight procession around the shrine.
On Sunday the pope will celebrate an open-air Mass for an expected 300,000 people.
Although the waters of Lourdes are said to bring miraculous healings, the Vatican denied the pope was seeking a cure for himself, The Associated Press reported.
The trip to the small town in the French Pyrenees is John Paul's second this year after a June visit to Switzerland.
In a welcoming speech, Chirac called the pope "a universal pastor and a man of peace" and said "France and the Holy See are joined in the fight for a world which places Man at the centre of every enterprise."
