Caravaca de la Cruz

Caravaca de la Cruz, often shortened to Caravaca, is a town and municipality of southeastern Spain in the region of Murcia, near the left bank of the River Argos, a tributary of the Segura. It is the capital of the northwest Region of Murcia. It has a population of 26,449 as of 2010. In 1900, it had 15,846 inhabitants.It is the fifth Holy City of Catholic Christianity, having been granted the privilege to celebrate the jubilee year in perpetuity in 1998 by Pope John Paul II, along with Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Camaleño. It celebrates its jubilee every seven years, the first being in 2003, when it was visited by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. In 2010, the second jubilee was celebrated, and it surpassed the one million visits received in 2003. Festivities of International Tourist Interest have occurred since 2004.