The 15th national conference of the pastoral theology of pilgrimage held by the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, the Roman Pilgrimage Society (ORP – www.orpnet.org), which ended in Rome, 14 February is dedicated to the great pilgrimage routes of Europe. “If a European family is recognisable, in spite of wars and divisions, this is also due to the networks that pilgrims have created through the continent for centuries”, declared Monsignor Liberio Andreatta in his keynote address. He also stressed the need to “foster the two main European cultural itineraries, the pilgrim’s route to Rome (Via Francigena) and the pilgrim’s routes to Santiago de Compostella”, to “re-trace the Christian roots”, following in “the footsteps of European pilgrims”. Msgr. Andreatta also presented the new catalogue of “Itineraries of the Spirit”, and announced an innovation: the pilgrimages hitherto reserved for ecclesiastical channels will shortly be opened to tourism and be on sale in 2200 travel agencies. He also announced a project for 2008, an international festival of religious tourism in Rome, “caput caritatis”.
