And you thought the Jesuits had influence...

I'm not a particular fan of The Tablet, but did spot an interesting little story which had as its source the former Master-General of the Dominicans Timothy Radcliffe. It seems that the 40,000 strong French Dominican pilgrimage to Lourdes this year promised to be a disaster as it coincided with a French railway strike. However, the friars persuaded the union to allow 27 special trains to run, transporting 20,000 pilgrims to Lourdes.