Every year countless believers visit the European Marian shrines. They are looking for consolation or new power of faith and life. The most important Marian pilgrimage sites in Europe have been closely linked since the founding of the “Shrines of Europe” working group in 1996. Members of the “Shrines of Europe” are Altötting in Germany, Czestochowa in Poland, Einsiedeln in Switzerland, Fátima in Portugal, Loreto in Italy, Lourdes in France and Mariazell in Austria. All “Shrines of Europe” were founded by the last two European popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. visited, because both were great Marian devotees and thus underlined the great importance of the European Marian pilgrimage sites.