The diocesan jubilee pilgrimage of the Archdiocese of Catanzaro-Squillace has begun, led by the archbishop mons. Claudio Maniago, who in these days leads priests, religious and faithful of the diocese to the tomb of the Apostle Peter, the heart of the Jubilee of Hope.
The first stop on the spiritual journey was the Marian Sanctuary of Divine Love, where the diocesan community experienced an intense moment of prayer and reconciliation through the penitential liturgy, in an atmosphere of recollection and gratitude for God’s mercy. «We came as pilgrims – the Archbishop recalled – to renew our faith and start again from Peter, on whose rock Christ continues to build his Church”.
Today, the pilgrimage experienced its most solemn moment with the passage of the Holy Door into St. Peter’s Basilica, a sacramental sign of the Jubilee journey and of the hope that animates the entire universal Church. This was followed by the Eucharistic concelebration at the Tomb of the Apostle, the culmination of the spiritual journey of the many faithful who went to Rome.
To seal the experience of faith, the pilgrims participated in the Audience with the Holy Father Leo XIV during which they expressed their communion with the Successor of Peter and received his blessing.
The pilgrimage, experienced in a climate of profound ecclesial unity, represents a moment of grace for the entire diocese, called to renew itself in the spirit of the Jubilee and to become a witness of hope in the communities and territories from which it comes. “The Jubilee – underlined Mgr. Maniago – reminds us that faith is not a memory, but a living journey. Passing the Holy Door means choosing to put Christ back at the center of our lives, as Peter did after his encounter with the Risen One. “A pilgrimage therefore which is both memory and prophecy: memory of the apostolic roots of faith and prophecy of a Church that continues, in the wake of Peter, to walk with hope towards the future.