Kohima, October 23 (MExN): A grotto of Blessed Virgin Mary at St. Peter’s Parish, Tesophenyu was blessed and inaugurated by Rev. Dr. James Thoppil, Bishop of Kohima and Thomas Kent, Additional Director, Department of Tourism respectively on October 23. A press release from Fr. Sojan Xavier, Bishop's House, Kohima informed that the grotto of Blessed Virgin Mary is an artificial cave where the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary is placed and people visit it and pray for her intercession. He noted that unlike the popular perception, “Catholics never ever worship blessed virgin but has a special devotion because they believe that she is a powerful mediator between us and her son Jesus for any assistance.” It was stated that ‘Our Lady of Lourdes’ in France is perhaps the most popular shrine of the Virgin Mary. With a population of about 15,000 people, it receives about 5,000,000 pilgrims annually. It is here that Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette, a young country girl of Lourdes, France, the release stated. It has been recorded that Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her 18 times in 1858. Here, there is a natural grotto with the image of Blessed Virgin Mary. People from different religions visit the place to intercede to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Now the replica of the grotto at Lourdes is being set up in different Catholic Churches all over the world facilitating Catholic people to gather around it to pray for their various needs and also pray the rosary, which is a meditation upon the events in the lives of Blessed Virgin Mary and Rosary, the press release added. The grotto in Tesophenyu was built with contributions of benefactors from both the parish and outside. The mastermind behind the construction is Rev. Fr. Joy Thottankara, the Parish Pastor of the community, while the grotto was designed by CM Jose, a famous artist from Guwahati. Thomas Kent, while inaugurating the grotto, prayed that people flock to the grotto to pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary and receive blessing from her son Jesus through her powerful intervention.