A pilgrimage of 816 km in 40 days, from Susa (Piedmont) to La Storta, at the gates of Rome: that’s the project “Ad Limina Petri”, the youth pilgrimage along the ancient pilgrimage road, the Via Francigena, on the 5th anniversary of the Vatican Basilica, presented in Rome in recent days. Promoted by the national Youth Pastoral Service of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (SNPG) in collaboration with the Vatican Basilica, the Fabbrica di San Pietro and the Church’s national Office for the pastoral care of leisure time, tourism and sport, the pilgrimage will start on 19 May and end on 30 June. “It’s a great relay during which not only the pilgrims themselves but also the dioceses (23 in all) through which the pilgrimage will pass will take over from each other – explains Monsignor Paolo Giulietti, director of the SNPG -. Each of these dioceses will animate a stretch of the road with its young people”. The pilgrimage, adds Giulietti, “will have as its leitmotif the Letter of Peter, which is the biblical text chosen for the preparation of the 4th national ecclesial congress in Verona (October 2006). It also aims to familiarise the ecclesial world with this ancient itinerary which could become the Italian version of the pilgrimage to Santiago. Familiarising people with it also means encouraging the local churches to give hospitality to pilgrims and foster the culture of pilgrimage which is not a kind of pleasure trip but the Christian path of growth in the faith and encounter with others”. The pilgrims will arrive in St. Peter’s Square on 29 June where they will be greeted by Benedict XVI. A conference of historical studies on the Via Francigena is planned for the following day (for further information consult the website: www.adlimina.it)
