Masses and Catholic Events with Pope Francis on Easter 2018

During Easter period some of the greatest and most suggestive events take place in Saint Peter’s Square and Basilica, officiated by the Pope.

This year Easter is Sunday, April 1st, but Easter period begins with Lent, at the end of Carnival time, on Ash Wednesday (February 14th in 2018), and the first Catholic Mass with Pope Francis is on Palm Sunday, at the beginning of the Holy Week. Continue reading

Easter in Rome: how to take part in Masses and Catholic events with Pope Francis.

Easter is, without doubt, the most important event in the Catholic calendar. The feast is not fixed and the date is different every year. In 2017 Easter Sunday will be on April 16th, and in 2018 on April 1st.

If you are planning to be in Rome during Easter period, you can decide to join one of the most touching ceremonies of the year with the Holy Father. Continue reading

Christmas time in Rome: Pope Francis schedule on December 2016 – January 2017.

The Vatican Christmas tree was erected in St. Peter’s Square at the beginning of the Advent and of the Christmas holiday season. The 82 feet tall spruce tree arrived in the Square on November 24th from Trentino (Northern Italy region) and will be inaugurated and lit up, together with the Nativity scene, on December 9th. They will highlight several issues such as care for the environment, the sick and migrants. Continue reading

Easter 2016: events in Rome and Vatican in the year of the Jubilee.

Easter is, without doubt, the most important event in the Catholic calendar and one of the busiest times of the year in Rome and Vatican, center of all Christendom.
Easter is a moveable feast, is not fixed in the civil calendar: the date varies from March 22nd to April 25th. This year Easter Sunday will be on March 27th. Continue reading

Jubilee of Mercy: all you need to know to take part in the events in Rome.

Pope Francis wishes that the upcoming Extraordinary Jubilee will be celebrated not only in Rome but in every single Church, as a sign of unity and charity. He asked to open a special Holy Door, a “Door of Mercy”, in every Diocese during this Holy Year, in order to allow the faithful in every part of the world to experience the Mercy of the Father in its fullness. However, this Year will be a perfect occasion to make a real pilgrimage to the Tomb of the Apostle Peter and to enter through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, the very heart of the Catholic Church. Continue reading

Jubilee of Mercy 2015-2016: all the events in Rome

On April 2015 Pope Francis announced, through the Papal Bull, an extraordinary Jubilee, the Jubilee of Mercy. This Holy Year will begin with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, on December 8th, 2015, ten years in advance of the regular Jubilee, and 15 years after the Great Jubilee of 2000, wanted by Saint John Paul II. Continue reading

Pontifical Villas: extraordinary visitors’ access and new train service from Vatican City to Castel Gandolfo

Pope Francis opens Castel Gandolfo’s doors to the public, permitting for the first time access to the Apostolic Palace and Pontifical Villas, for a century inaccessible Summer papal residences. Continue reading

Easter 2015: Pope Francis’ schedule and events in Rome and Vatican City

Easter is the most important event in the Catholic calendar and one of the busiest times of the year in Rome, center of all Christendom. A multitude of pilgrims arrive to see the Capital come alive for the Holy week and the Triduum, the three-day period that extends from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday. Continue reading