Pontifical Gregorian University

Towards the Jubilee 2025 – Study morning

Religious Tourism

Thursday 16 May 204, 11.00

Great Hall of the Pontifical Gregorian University

“The Jubilee Churches along the pilgrimage routes and in the city of Rome can serve as oases of spirituality and places of rest on the pilgrimage of faith, where we can drink from the wellsprings of hope”

(Pope Francis, Spes non confundit – Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025)

On Thursday 16 May the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Ministry of Tourism are organizing a study morning to reflect on themes of common interest, such as religious tourism as a way of communicating beauty and as a tool of knowledge and dialogue between cultures. The encounter, conceived in view of the imminent Holy Year 2025, is intended to constitute an occasion to initiate a shared reflection on the increasingly urgent need to raise awareness among ecclesiastical and civil institutions of the themes of hospitality and knowledge linked to cultural, religious and leisure tourism.

The event, which will begin at 11.00 in the Great Hall of the Pontifical Gregorian University, will be opened by greetings from the Rector Fr. Mark Lewis, S.J., and Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization – First Section. Dr. Francesco Felici (Director General of the Directorate for Tourism Planning and Policy) will speak about the role of the Italian Ministry of Tourism throughout the Jubilee, while Don Marco Fagotti (National Office for the Pastoral Care of Leisure, Tourism and Sport – CEI) will present the progress of the Italian Church towards the Jubilee 2025. Professor Pietro Zander, head of the Necropolises and Artistic Heritage of the Fabric of Saint Peter in the Vatican and lecturer at the Pontifical Gregorian University, will examine the central role of the figure of the Apostle Peter for the Jubilee, while Professor Ottavio Bucarelli, director of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Church at the Pontifical Gregorian University, will explore the formation of workers for the Jubilee and after the Jubilee. Indeed, during this academic year, the Gregorian has launched a Diploma in History and Art of Jubilees, intended to prepare guides and staff who will welcome the pilgrims to the holy places.

“This study morning is an opportunity to reflect on the tools to offer to ecclesiastical and civil institutions to train workers able to accompany and guide pilgrims, tourists and visitors in the correct knowledge and enjoyment of cultural heritage, in particular that of religious interest”, explains Bucarelli. “A heritage made up of cultural and landscape heritage, elements of the identity of a nation, in which every single community, feeling that they are its own, recognizes itself”.

Accreditation procedure

Journalists and media workers who wish to participate must apply, up to 24 hours before the event, via the Holy See Press Office online accreditation system, at: press.vatican.va/accreditamenti.

For interviews and technical information on the event, contact: press@unigre.it.