St. John Paul II and Pope Leo XIV both studied at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
ROME — Catholic students in Rome on Thursday bore witness to the Eucharist during a solemn procession to commemorate 25 years of its student-led adoration program.
During the April 16 procession on the campus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas — “the Angelicum” — students and clergy offered visible testimony to faith in the Real Presence.
Students and faculty of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome participate in a Eucharistic procession on the university’s campus on April 16, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News
Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, led the procession. In his homily beforehand, Mamberti referenced the soon-to-be Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen, calling adoration an experience that “mysteriously transforms our heart.” He later spoke to EWTN News about the need for such practices to be developed in the wider Church.
The cardinal said it is beautiful when youth gatherings dedicate a part of their time to adoration of the Lord in the Eucharist. “We recognize him as truly present, under the Eucharistic species, and this is an integral part of our faith,” he said. “Otherwise our faith is in vain … Because if Christ is not present in the bread and in the Eucharist and in the wine of the Eucharist, it means that he is not resurrected, as St. Paul says.”
Faith amid challenges
Amid challenges in Eucharistic faith, Dominican Father Thomas Joseph White, rector of the Angelicum, described the procession as indicative of a revival among the young. The Angelicum established student-led adoration in 2001 in response to the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John Paul II.
Dominican Father Thomas Joseph White, rector of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, speaks to EWTN News on April 16, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News
“Eucharistic adoration has become more prominent in at least areas of the Church in recent decades. Some of that had to do with initiatives at the time of the pontificate of John Paul II when [student adoration] began here,” White said.
“St. Thomas understood this mystery [of the Eucharist] deeply; he contemplated it, he wrote about it, and studying his thinking about the Eucharist here leads our students into a deeper appreciation of the Eucharist,” the priest said. It also helps students to pray more deeply “and explain the mystery of the Eucharist to the world today as missionaries of the 21st century.”
Impact of program on students
Marcia Vanderstraaten, who is from Singapore and studying for a theology licentiate (similar to a master’s degree), described the student adoration program as a blessing, giving students the opportunity to pray between classes.
Students “take great comfort in being able to see Jesus during their breaks, praying and reflecting. Having the Eucharistic presence in the midst of our community is something that really matters to a lot of us,” she said.
Students of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome participate in a Eucharistic procession on the university’s campus on April 16, 2026. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News
