Italy: the SSVP Pilgrimages to Rome for the Jubilee 2025
From September 19 to 21, 2025, the National Federation of the SSVP in Italy held in Rome its Pellegrinaggio Giubilare – “Pellegrini di speranza”, an event of prayer, formation, and fraternity that gathered about 500 people from all over the country. According to the national president, Paola Da Ros, these were “three days of formation, fraternity, and prayer. A gift to live together. Intense days that fill our hearts with hope: the key word for this Jubilee and the deep root of our Vincentian vocation.”
On Saturday the 20th, participants went to St. Peter’s Square to join the jubilee audience with the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. The day continued at the Circle of the Italian Navy in Rome, with a meeting where experiences and projects of the Italian SSVP were presented in the fields of prison ministry, global solidarity, and twinning. Contributions were made by H.E. Msgr. Juan Ignacio Arrieta on the theme Iustitia Imago Dei, as well as by Paola Da Ros, the International President General Juan Manuel Buergo Gómez, Fr. Salvatore Farì, CM, and Antonella Caldart, head of the “Prison and Deviation” department.
On Sunday the 21st, the pilgrimage culminated with the celebration of Holy Mass at the Altar of the Confession in St. Peter’s Basilica, presided over by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti. During the Angelus prayer, Pope Leo XIV addressed a special greeting to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, encouraging perseverance in fraternal service. To close the gathering, the national vice president, Marco Guercio, accompanied by a group of volunteers, distributed the remaining food kits to homeless people at Termini station, a gesture that symbolized the transformation of prayer into concrete action.
Finally, once the pilgrimage had concluded, the President General, accompanied by the Executive Director of the Paris office, visited the Embassy of Spain to the Holy See. Invited by Ambassador Isabel Celaá, they presented the International Confederation’s report. The ambassador expressed her appreciation for the work of the SSVP and offered the president her full willingness to support, as far as possible, the mission of the Society.
