Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major

PRESS RELEASE OF 6 OCTOBER 2023

FROM SATURDAY 7, THE BASILICA’S NEW WEB PORTAL ONLINE

A few months after the launch of its social media profiles, the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major is extending its digital presence by offering pilgrims and enthusiasts a new web portal, www.basilicasantamariamaggiore.va, which will be online from Saturday 7 October, liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary.

The site, with a renewed graphic design, will offer a rich selection of updated and quality content in seven languages: Italian, English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Polish.

The functional portal is optimized to be easily accessible from any type of device and able to guarantee a pleasant and fluid user experience. Users will be able to navigate through two macro sections: liturgical-pastoral and historical-artistic.

This new web presence is able to offer a vast overview of the identity and pastoral work of the Basilica which, also in view of the 2025 Jubilee Year, will make it possible to book visits to the Liberian Museum Complex (Historical Museum, Archaeological Excavations, Loggia, Hall of the Popes and Bernini's Staircase); it will be possible to find all contact details, useful addresses, links to social pages and indications to support the activities of the Basilica. There will also be pages dedicated to the Chapter and the Liberian Musical Chapel.

Archbishop Rolandas Makrickas, Extraordinary Commissioner of the Basilica, hopes "to consolidate, also through this new virtual space, the real bond that has united the Basilica with the faithful for centuries, as well as to reach those who are more distant and perhaps less social, with greater ease”.

With the new multilingual site, the Basilica intends to share its daily life in a completely renewed way, aware that, as Pope Francis stated (in the Preface to the book “The Church in the Digital”, edited by Fabio Bolzetta), "virtuality will never be able to replace the beauty of face-to-face encounters. But the digital world is inhabited and must be inhabited by Christians”.

With the aim of reducing social and geographic distances, it was decided to offer a user-friendly and intuitive portal that can be read and consulted from computers and mobile devices. Supported by a wide range of photo galleries, it will tell the story of the Basilica that guards the image of the much-loved Salus Populi Romani and remains a safe harbour even for the “virtual” faithful from all over the world.