Activities in Rome Related to Alvaro del Portillo's Beatification

From September 29 to October 2, pilgrims to Rome will be able to pray before the body of the new blessed. Two Roman basilicas will host Masses of thanksgiving.

Mara Celani, spokesperson for the Roman events related to the beatification

Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, the first successor of St Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer as head of Opus Dei, will be beatified in Madrid, the city where he was born, on 27 September next. According to provisional estimates some 100 thousand people from 60 countries are expected to be taking part. Information on the beatification can be found at www.alvarodelportillo.org and www.alvaro14.org.

The organising committee for the beatification has published today a list of events planned to take place in Rome where Bishop del Portillo lived from 1943 until his death in 1994 and where his body rests in the crypt of the prelatic church of Our Lady of Peace (at Viale Bruno Buozzi, 75, Rome).

According to the spokesperson for the Roman events related to the beatification, Mara Celani, during the days following the beatification a considerable number of those who participated in Madrid will be traveling to Rome. “We are getting requests," Celani said, "from young people and older people too who, because of the beatification, want to come in pilgrimage to the city of St Peter and pray before the body of the new blessed.” Celani added, “Many families in Rome have already told us they are ready to welcome into their homes pilgrims coming from Africa, Asia, America and Oceania.”

Spanish Steps in Rome

Programmed events from 29 September to 2 October

From 29 September to 2 October, pilgrims coming to Rome will be able to visit the Basilica of St Eugene (Viale delle Belle Arti 10), where the body of the new blessed will be placed temporarily to allow many faithful to pray before it. The body will be transferred from the prelatic church of Our Lady of Peace to the Basilica of St Eugene on Monday 29 September at 6 pm.

During those same days, in the patio next to the basilica there will be an exhibition for the pilgrims on the life of the new blessed and various social and educational activities which he promoted in different countries. There will also be a collection in aid of three projects related to the care of women and infants begun at the desire of Bishop del Portillo, in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and also a scholarship fund for African priests studying in Rome (https://www.harambee-africa.org/en.html/).

On Tuesday 30 September two Holy Masses of thanksgiving will be celebrated, one in the Basilica of St John Lateran (at 11 am) and the other in the Basilica of St Mary Major (at 4.30 pm). The respective principal celebrants will be Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Vicar General of his Holiness for the diocese of Rome and Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló, Archpriest of the Basilica of St Mary Major.

On Wednesday1 October, at 10 am, the faithful may wish to attend the General Audience with Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square, to show their gratitude for the beatification and their union with the Holy Father.

Finally, on Thursday2 October at 5 pm in St Eugene’s Basilica there will be exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by a blessing with the relic of Blessed Alvaro, after which his body will be transferred back to the prelatic church of Our Lady of Peace.

Celani explained that several of these events will be able to be followed in real time, by streaming, on the internet, thanks to a number of volunteers, among who will be students and staff of the faculty of communications of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. Information will be updated on www.alvarodelportillo.org.

More information on Alvaro del Portillo and his cause of canonisation can be found on www.alvarodelportillo.org.

Organising committee

Mara Celani

maracelani@gmail.com

Opus Dei information office in Rome

Manuel Sanchez – Bruno Mastroianni

Via dei Farnese 91/a, 00186 Rome

e-mail: international@opusdei.org

mobile: +39 3334788131

tel.: +39 06 686 75 22