Holy Year
According to a preliminary assessment compiled by Mons. Fisichella and by the prefect of Rome Franco Gabrielli, counting only the pilgrims who visited St. Peter’s, almost three million pilgrims have travelled to Rome in the first 100 days of the Jubilee. Significant effort has been put into security measures throughout the capital, with no “concrete alarm.” Major events will gain momentum during Easter and on Mercy Sunday. Groups are invited to make reservations. Volunteers include young and old people from world countries. “Big Data”, with an algorithm to calculate “active presence” will be activated the coming week. Ten thousand Holy Doors opened throughout 2,089 dioceses, but the Capital of Christianity remains its “heart”
“From December 8 until March 11 – not counting Saturdays and Sundays, and only on Saturday there were 50 thousand people – 2.802.000 faithful were present in St. Peter’s area.” Monsignor Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, released the figures on the first 100 days of the Jubilee. During the press conference promoted by the Prefecture of Rome, in the Jubilee Press Point in via dei Penitenzieri, the bishop made known that “we have not yet calculated the number of pilgrims present in the other basilicas.” Thus the figures don’t include the basilicas of St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and the Holy Door of Our Lady of Divine Love and the Holy Door of the Caritas Charity Hostel, visited by “thousands of pilgrims.” “This extraordinary event has been coordinated with ordinary powers”, said the Prefect of Rome, Franco Gabrielli, describing the Jubilee of Mercy called by Pope Francis, opened almost 100 days ago. “97 days have gone by, there still are 250 more to go”, the Prefect pointed out, confirming the figures released shortly before by Mons. Fisichella. The Prefect explained that out of almost three million pilgrims transiting through the area of St. Peter, “some 500 thousand are those in Rome for the Jubilee.”
“Our first thought is one of appreciation and gratitude – declared Fisichella –. In fact, everything has been taking place in an atmosphere of security, thereby transmitting pilgrims the serenity to gather in prayer, along with a sound religious climate that brings them to walk along the streets of Rome. What have been experiencing accurately reflects the request of Pope Francis in the Bull of Indiction.” For the bishop one hundred days are enough time “for a preliminary assessment of the Jubilee.” “Knowing the city of Rome and mindful of international developments that have led to the adoption of reinforced security measures, and in spite of difficulties, a remarkable number of pilgrims have travelled to the city of Rome, in the area of St.Peter’s Square in particular. An overall evaluation will be carried out starting November 20, but the figures are indeed meaningful.”
Monsignor Fisichella called upon groups of pilgrims, “to continue registering in our reception centre” and invited the faithful to attend all major events, such as the translation of the relics of Saint Pius and Saint Leopold. “No registration was requested for the event attended by over half million people.”
Upcoming great events include Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday and the following Sunday devoted to the celebration of the Divine Mercy, which 150 thousand people are expected to attend. “A total of 800 volunteers from world countries have offered their services, including many young people and retired workers”, Fisichella said.
A major commitment of police forces throughout the city of Rome, the prefect said, “not only in terms of security, carried out via anti-terrorism measures, but also in the fight on ordinary crime.” Gabrielli made known that “3,579 law enforcement units are present in the area of St.Peter’s square devoted to Jubilee celebrations, along with bomb disposal experts, guard dogs” and firefighters. Seven hundred and fifty youths from the civil service have offered their voluntary work, 308 of whom in Jubilee areas around Saint Peter’s. Not to mention the involvement of trainees from Rome universities, from “Roma Tre”, “Tor Vergata” and “La Sapienza”.
“There have been no concrete alarms in terms of security”, the Prefect of Rome told journalists at the end of the press conference
to the presence of the provincial headquarters of the Carabineri and financial police, of Rome’s Chief of Police, Vice-Prefect Nando Santoriello, head of the technical secretariat of the Jubilee. Speaking of various false bomb scares and suspicious objects found in the past months in different parts of Rome, Gabrielli pointed out: “We have obviously carried out in-depth investigations and verified all evidence, which, as expected, have proved unfounded, but which ought to be done all the same.”
Among the achievements, Gabrielli recalled in particular the use of a single radio channel, the Tetra radio system, provided by the local Police of Roma Capitale enabling communication among all law-enforcement units on the details of the scheduled events to optimize the management of the flow of pilgrims from Saint Peter’s Square. Moreover, from next week the Big Data program, envisaging four-hour-flow forecasts, will be fully running. The program is based on an algorithm that takes into account the data processed by phone cells, thereby designing “presence maps” which provide real-time snapshots on the presence of people in a given area at a given time and event. The next phase will focus on the acquisition of information obtained by monitoring the so-called “network mood”, through the analysis of the main “key-words” linked to the Jubilee on social networks. These tools add on to other communication tools activated over the past months, such as the portal, apps, and social network profiles.
It is estimated that 10 thousand holy doors have already been opened across 2089 world dioceses. However, in this global Jubilee, Rome has already been confirmed as the heart of Christianity:
“Here lies the tomb of Peter where pilgrims come to profess the faith in order to live it more intensely once they return to their communities, to their home countries, and their associations,” said Fisichella.
