Knock, County Mayo

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Knock Irish: Cnoc Mhuire
Village
The roundabout at Knock
Knock Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°47′00″N 8°55′00″W / 53.7833°N 8.91667°W / 53.7833; -8.91667
Country	Ireland
Province	Connacht
County	County Mayo
Elevation	78 m (256 ft)
Population  (2016)[1]
• Total	972
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
Eircode	F12
Irish Grid Reference	M396818

Knock (Irish: An Cnoc, meaning The Hill – but now more generally known in Irish as Cnoc Mhuire, "Hill of (the Virgin) Mary")^[2] is a village in County Mayo, Ireland.

Knock is also a civil parish in the ancient barony of Costello.

It is notable as the location of Knock Shrine - a Marian shrine and place of pilgrimage. According to Catholic beliefs, Mary, mother of Jesus, Saint Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist appeared to witnesses in the village on 21 August 1879. There is international skepticism of this event due to the age of the witnesses and the lack of evidence supporting the event. In the 20th century, Knock became one of Europe's most visited shrines to the Virgin Mary, along with Lourdes and Fatima. It was a focus of peace pilgrimages in Ireland during the Second World War, when the faithful prayed for peace.^[3] One and a half million pilgrims visit the shrine annually.

In 1979, on the centenary of the apparition, Pope John Paul II visited the shrine. On 26 August 2018, Pope Francis visited the basilica while in Ireland for the 9th World Meeting of Families.