Make your way to your local airport, where you will board your overnight flight(s). Your meals will be served on board.

Welcome to Rome, also known as, “The Eternal City”. Upon arrival at Rome airport, collect your luggage in the baggage claim area and continue to the Arrivals Hall, where you will be greeted by a tour escort and/or driver. You will make your way to the bus and transfer to your hotel. Following check-in, this afternoon, your group will meet in the hotel lobby for a “Meet and Greet” with your fellow pilgrims and depart for Mass. After Mass you will attend a welcome dinner. After dinner, you will have the opportunity to walk to St. Peter’s Square, as a group, for the Rosary (optional).

The program on this day is subject to further specification regarding activities and locations by the Holy See. The Canonization of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati has been rescheduled for a later date. Scheduled activities may include celebrations as part of the Jubilee of Youth and other Jubilee Year Activities.

This morning, we will make our way back to St. Peters for the Memorial Mass. After, we will tour St. Peter’s Basilica, built on the site where St. Peter the Apostle was martyred. Here, you will have the opportunity to view Michelangelo’s Pieta sculpture and pray at the tombs of Pope Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II. After lunch, continue down the Appian Way, one of the earliest roads built in ancient Rome to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls and the Catacombs. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

Today we start with a visit the one of the oldest and major Basilicas in Rome, the Basilica of St. John the Lateran. This Basilica is where The Pope was installed as Bishop of Rome and is home to the relics of Saints Peter and Paul. Next, you will cross the street to visit the Holy Stairs. These Holy Stairs are believed to be the very steps leading up to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem on which Jesus stepped on his way to trial during his Passion. The Stairs were brought to Rome by Saint Helena in the fourth century. Ascend these stairs on your knees, in memory of Christ’s agonizing Passion. Visit the Basilica of Santa Croce, one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches which is believed to hold relics of the True Cross. We conclude our day with a Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary Major. This Church, dedicated to Our Blessed Mother, is the only Basilica that has kept its original structure and is an authentic jewel in the crown of Roman Churches. This Basilica contains a relic from the Manger of the Infant Jesus. Enjoy dinner at the hotel and a restful overnight.

After an early breakfast and heartfelt farewells, transfer to Rome airport for return flights home.

*206 Tours Disclaimer:
Please note the Canonization of Bl. Pier Frassati dates are not yet confirmed.

Occasionally local religious and national holidays, weather, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of events or the missing of certain events/places. Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication, rather than a contract of events and places to be visited.