VICARIATE OF ROME

PRESS AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE

PRESS RELEASE

VISIT OF POPE LEO XIV
TO THE PARISH OF SANTA MARIA DELLA PRESENTAZIONE

The Holy Father will meet the various members of the community and celebrate Holy Mass at 17.00

The parish of Santa Maria della Presentazione, located at Via di Torrevecchia 1104, will welcome Pope Leo XIV next Sunday, 8 March. The Holy Father will arrive at the community entrusted to the diocesan clergy at 16.00. Among those welcoming him will be Cardinal Vicar Baldo Reina and parish priest Don Paolo Stacchiotti, who has been leading the parish since last December. Above all, Pope Leo will receive a warm welcome from the children of the catechism class, young people and families, who will be waiting for him in the churchyard – where a large screen will be set up for the occasion – with songs, banners and drawings. The Pontiff will stop to talk to them before continuing his visit inside the parish complex. In the various rooms, he will meet disabled and sick people; finally, in the parish hall, about sixty people with various types of frailty will be waiting for him. At 17.00, Pope Leo will celebrate Mass; at the end, he will meet the pastoral council and the priests, and after the final farewells, he will return to the Vatican.

The visit to Santa Maria della Presentazione is the Pope’s fourth visit to a Roman parish. “We await the Holy Father with joy”, says Don Stacchiotti. “Saint John Paul II visited here in 1982, so more than forty years have passed. The presence of the Pontiff makes us feel his closeness and that of the whole Church, and this area is in great need of it”. Between Bastogi and the public housing of Torrevecchia, “this is not an easy neighbourhood”, explains the parish priest, “but the news stories do not do justice to the good that is here. This is a united community, full of generous people who spare no effort in helping one another”. The visit is also an opportunity to “strengthen bonds, work together, even in the practical organization of the event, to build communion”, continues the priest. “We will give the Pope an icon made by the consecrated women who have been living in Bastogi for thirty years. It is a copy of the Pilgrim Madonna, which travels around the neighbourhood during the month of May. It is not a precious gift, but it is a symbol of our parish”.

Journalists and media operators who wish to participate must apply, no later than 24 hours before the event, exclusively via the Holy See Press Office online accreditation system, at: press.vatican.va/accreditamenti.

5 March 2026

Giulia Rocchi

Press and Social Communications Office
Vicariate of Rome,
tel. +390669886343/150; +393393749085

e-mail stampa@diocesidiroma.it; giulia.rocchi@diocesidiroma.it