But in the small town of Knock in the west of Ireland, a priest has turned to heaven in a completely different way: He has given the flat land an airport.
The story of James Horan is also the story of a man who never gave up.
Horan comes from a humble background, his father is a small farmer and creamer. Born in 1911, he became a priest in 1936. Even in his first years as a priest, it is noticeable that he tackles his task with great vigour.
The west of Ireland was then (and to some extent still is today) very remote, there are hardly any large towns and there is a lack of prospects in the agrarian environment. Horan does not simply accept this.
He campaigns for the construction of a dance hall to bring people together - and goes on a journey through various cities in the USA to collect money.
Even then, he was concerned that many people were moving away because of poverty and he wanted to improve their living conditions.
"Credible and satisfying"
Horan came to Knock in 1963 and became a priest there in 1967. The village has a Catholic history: in 1879, St Mary, St Joseph and St John the Evangelist are said to have appeared to 15 residents - right next to the village church.
The church considers the people's testimonies to be "credible and satisfactory" and therefore has nothing against pilgrimages there.
In Catholic Ireland, this quickly leads to pilgrims coming. In addition to Irish people, it is mainly US Americans with Irish roots who come. People hoped to be cured of illnesses in the small town.
As early as the 1960s, the number of pilgrims grew and the parish church and the chapel built after the apparition became too small. Horan soon realised that the village needed a larger church.
So on the 100th anniversary of the apparitions, the Basilica of Our Lady Queen of Ireland was built. It was completed in 1976 and had a capacity of 10,000.
But that is not enough for Horan - he is campaigning for a visit from Pope John Paul II for the actual anniversary.
"It will be the biggest thing in Irish history," the priest is quoted as saying. "It will be given a great reception, perhaps even greater than in Poland." The Pope does indeed visit Ireland in 1979, with Knock as his specific destination.
Work is carried out in the previously poor small town: Renovations, refurbishments - the town of 1,000 inhabitants shines in new splendour for the Pope's visit. John Paul II grants the pilgrimage church the status of "Basilica minor", thereby consolidating the town's status as one of the most important places of pilgrimage in the Catholic world. Half a million pilgrims arrive on 30 September.
The Pope steps out of his helicopter and says: "Here I am at the destination of my journey to Ireland: at the shrine of Our Lady of Knock."
A great day for the town and for Horan.
But he is not yet satisfied: he now sees the opportunity to continue doing something for the local people with the pilgrimage. But first the pilgrims have to get as far as the west of Ireland, as the region is difficult to reach. An easy way: an airport. The idea is to attract more and more pilgrims.
An airport in a swamp
The idea is initially ridiculed.
Who needs an airport in a swamp?
But Horan doesn't give up: At a lunch and with specially choreographed construction work at the as yet non-existent airport for a television programme, he persuades the Irish head of government, Charles Haughey, to co-finance the project.
The construction work continued until the next elections in 1982, which led to a change of government.
The new government cancels further funding.
Now Horan is back in demand: he embarks on a major tour of several countries and raises money for his pet project in the USA and Australia, for example. In his native Ireland, he organised a large lottery.
In the end, the funding was secured - and in 1985, the first aeroplanes took off from the new airport with Rome as their destination. The official opening took place the following year.
The airport is named after the priest. Horan reaches his destination - but is exhausted after all his efforts.
He dies on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1986.
The airport continued to earn ridicule at first, but the figures proved the project right: 200,000 passengers travelled from there in 1990, rising to more than 800,000 in 2024.
Today, the site is connected to 22 destinations around the world. Even though the airport has been called Ireland West Airport since 2006 and is therefore no longer named after Horan, his life is closely linked to the airport.
After Horan's death, the flight carrying his body was the first funeral flight to arrive at the new airport from Lourdes.
Today, a bronze statue of him stands there.
Horan is buried at the shrine in the place where he had campaigned for decades.