santuario, diocesano, Santuario diocesano di San Giovanni Paolo II

The Santuario diocesano di San Giovanni Paolo II occupies a small stone hamlet called Les Combes d’Introd, now renamed Lieu dit du Saint Père, isolated among woods some twenty kilometres from Aosta. This western Valle d’Aosta settlement, on the edge of the Gran Paradiso National Park, commands rare views from Mont Blanc to the Monte Rosa massif, with paths threading pastures and forests in deep natural quiet. Such churches in the Italian Alps often served remote communities, their simplicity reflecting the landscape’s austerity. Here, between 1989 and 2004, John Paul II chose this spot for ten summer retreats, finding the high mountains, as he said, ‘draw one closer to God’. During stays, he alternated work with walks, prayer, and encounters with shepherds, residents, and occasional tourists, offering a word, a smile, a blessing, often a rosary. The chapel where he prayed has been raised to a diocesan sanctuary. Principal feasts fall on 18 May and 22 October, when a relic is brought here; in winter the sanctuary is closed.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.