Members of Italy’s local and national governments will be the main participants in events for the Catholic Church’s Jubilee of Government Leaders on June 21–22, part of the wider Jubilee of Hope.
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According to the Vatican, the weekend’s events mix government and Church initiatives, including a pilgrimage through the Holy Door on June 21 followed by a meeting on “ecological debt” hosted by Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri at city hall. The event will include a keynote by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The Vatican has not yet confirmed if Leo will hold a jubilee audience with participants on Saturday morning, as he did last weekend, and as Pope Francis did twice before his hospitalization in mid-February.
In addition to members of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies and Senate, Italian mayors and regional counsellors are expected to participate in one or more events. Ambassadors to the Holy See and representatives from other countries will also attend.
The area just outside St. Peter’s Square will transform into an open-air concert venue on the evening of June 21. The “Harmonies of Hope” concert will feature musicians from the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Switzerland, Italy, and Japan.
The U.S. musician taking part is Brad Mehldau, a 54-year-old jazz pianist and composer from Jacksonville, Florida.
On Sunday, June 22, jubilee participants will be able to attend Pope Leo XIV’s Angelus from a reserved area. Attendees are also invited to join the pope’s Mass for the solemnity of Corpus Christi to be celebrated at the Basilica of St. John Lateran and which will be followed by a Eucharistic procession through the streets to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
During the Jubilee of Government Leaders, one of the largest groups to participate in the Holy Door pilgrimage will be employees of Italy’s national welfare agency, INPS (Istituto Nazionale Della Previdenza Sociale).
The paragovernmental entity, which employs approximately 25,000 people throughout Italy, is participating in the Catholic Church’s jubilee year with a pilgrimage through the Holy Door and Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 21 as an event to bring employees together.
Diego De Felice, the institute’s director of communications, told CNA around 4,000 INPS employees and their family members will participate.
According to De Felice, the welfare agency “espouses a positive vision of the intervention of the state for the purposes of social justice,” and this approach, even though secular, is “close to what the social doctrine of the Church professes.”
This week, in anticipation of the jubilee, the Italian Parliament hosted a conference on interreligious dialogue with the participation of religious and civil society leaders, and delegations from 60 countries. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, spoke at the opening of the conference on June 19.
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This article was originally published on Catholic News Agency.
