Five intense hours for the Pope. In Venice, next April 28, Francesco visits the pavilion of the Holy See at the Biennale, meets the inmates of the Giudecca prison, addresses a group of artists, greets a crowd of young people, and celebrates mass in Piazza San Marco.
The ailments and the programs
The detailed program of the previously announced visit was published today, in Rome and Venice, the day after, on Palm Sunday, the Argentine Pontiff, recovering from bronchitis which has dragged on for the past few weeks, chose not to deliver the planned homily. . This morning, moreover, Jorge Mario Bergoglio granted, as usual, numerous audiences, and delivered the speech in full to the Nigerian community in Rome. Francesco, 87 years old, suffers from bronchitis in winter: right around this time last year he was suddenly hospitalized for a few days at the Gemelli polyclinic, and this year he canceled some appointments in November, December, and most recently in February .
Trips in Italy and abroad
In addition to Venice, this year the Pope will also visit Verona, on 18 May, and Trieste, on 7 July. In the autumn he should go to Belgium and between the end of August and the beginning of September in Asia.
Landing in prison
The occasion of the trip to Venice is the pavilion at the Biennale which Francis will be the first Pope to visit. The cardinal Joseph Tolentino of Mendonca, his “minister” of Culture, wanted it to be installed in the women’s prison on the island of Giudecca, and here, in the internal square of the institute, the Pope will land at 8 with the helicopter transporting him from Rome. Francis, welcomed by the patriarch of Venice, Monsignor Francesco Moragliaand by the managers of the facility (supervisor, director of the prison house and commander of the penitentiary police), he will first meet the approximately 80 inmates, to whom he will address an initial speech.
Meeting with the artists
The Pontiff, who on Holy Thursday presides over the rite of foot washing in the women’s prison of Rebibbia, in Rome, then moves from the internal courtyard to the chapel of the institute, the church of Maddalena, where, welcomed by Cardinal de Mendonca, he addresses a second speech to the artists participating in the exhibition. Last June Bergoglio received the artists in the Sistine Chapel.
Mass and visit to the relics
Subsequently, Francis reaches the basilica of Santa Maria della Salute by patrol boat – built at the end of the 1631 epidemic – and in the square he meets the young Venetian Catholics at 10, to whom he greets. From there, the Pope crosses the “boat bridge”, a removable structure that connects the basilica with Piazza San Marco. At the entrance to the famous square, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is welcomed by the president of the Veneto Region Luca Zaiaby the mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro and by the prefect Darco Pellos. At 11am the Pope celebrates mass in Piazza San Marco. At the end of the celebration the Pope enters the basilica to venerate the relics of the saint. Finally he gets on the patrol boat and reaches the heliport of the naval college located in Sant’Elena and leaves from there by helicopter at 1pm, arriving at the Vatican an hour and a half later.
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– 2024-04-11 00:34:52
