The archdiocese of Campobasso-Bojano in southern Italy has released details of Pope Francis’ visit to the Molise region on July 5.
The “intensely spiritual” one day visit will begin at 9 a.m. when the Holy Father arrives at Campobasso’s old stadium where he will meet university students and workers of this heavily industrialised region of the country.
He will then transfer to the cathedral of Campobasso where he will pray at the tomb of Archbishop Secondo Bologna and remember Brother Immaculato Brienza whose cause for beatification is continuing.
At 11 a.m., in the Selva di Piana stadium, the Pope will celebrate Mass, “prepared with Franciscan simplicity. “Volunteer associations are helping organising the event, and to cover the costs of the visit, each parishioner of the diocese has been asked to donate one euro, according to Avvenire.
Lunch will be at the “House of Angels”, a canteen run by Caritas of Campobasso, and the Pope will bless and inaugurate a fomer kindergarten that the city no longer uses but which will now be used as a community center.
At 2.30 p.m., the Pope will be taken by helicopter to the Minor Basilica of Castelpetroso where he will greet young people and entrust their hopes to the Mother of Sorrows.
At 4.30 p.m., he will arrive in Isernia where he will visit a prison and then meet with the faithful in the cathedral.
Archbishop Carlo Bregantini of Campobasso said the Pope’s visit “will help to confirm our faith in the mercy of God” and “to make us more united in love, not rejecting anyone.”
This will be the second of two pastoral visits that the Pope will make within Italy this summer. On June 21 he is to make a one-day visit to Cassano all’Jonio in Calabria, a town infamous for violent crimes between local ‘ndrangheta organised crime clans.
