“The phenomenon of pilgrimages is growing, especially among the young”, says Monsignor Paolo Giulietti, director of the national Youth Pastoral Service (SNPG) of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, on his return from an 816 km-long pilgrimage on foot along the ancient pilgrimage route, the Via Francigena, lasting 40 days. Promoted by the SNPG together with other church organizations, the pilgrimage “Ad Limina Petri” was welcomed by Benedict XVI on its arrival in Rome on the morning of 29 June. On the following day it had a follow-up in an historical conference on the ancient Via Francigena itself. “At the basis of everything – commented Giulietti to SIR – there’s the intuition of a consonance between the experience of pilgrimage and everyday life, which is increasingly characterised, for the young, by precariousness and the lack of firm points of reference”. As if to say that “the culture of stability, which has as its horizon a permanent job and a fixed residence”, is now being replaced by a culture of mobility whose horizon is hope”. The attitudes of pilgrims, “tenaciousness, trust in life and in others, faith in Providence” thus become “fundamental skills” for tackling life. The experience of pilgrimage along the Via Francigena, concludes Giulietti, represents, I hope, a seed for the many local churches we encountered on the way”. Over 300 young people participated in the pilgrimage”Ad Limina Petri”; almost 500 were present at the audience with the Pope, while some 6,000 participated in the various events promoted along the 816 km route.
