ROME (Agenzia Fides): “This wonderful ‘unscheduled’ programme was a grace from God”; “What better could we hope for than to start our WYD journey in Lisbon?!”; “It’s a gift from God, an immense honour and a marvelous surprise,” were some of the reactions from young pilgrims from China, stopping over in Rome on their way to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, who had the unscheduled opportunity to visit the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide, the historic headquarters of the Dicastery for Evangelisation overlooking the Spanish Steps.
Rome is the first stop on their European pilgrimage.
The pilgrims came from Shaanxi, Shanxi and Hebei, with the youngest of them being only 15-years-old. Some only recently been baptized, others not yet. The group of 50 girls and boys, accompanied by adults and some elderly members of their families, were welcomed by Father Samuele Sangalli, the undersecretary of the dicastery, on behalf of the pro-prefect, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.
Father Sangalli, expressed joy at the unexpected meeting between brothers and sisters in faith, which took place in a place full of signs and resonances of the loving concern of the Church for Chinese Catholics. All the pilgrims also received the missionary Rosary as a gift.
Then, in the Chapel of the Three Kings, the work of the great artist Francesco Borromini, they sang the Ave Maria in Putonghua, moved to tears by the experience of being able to invoke Mary in the place from which so many missionaries were sent in past eras, to bring the gift of the gospel to China.
After Rome, the group of pilgrims were scheduled visit Assisi, Avignon, Lourdes, Zaragoza, Madrid and Salamanca, before heading to Lisbon.
