Naples, Italy (Wednesday, 03-04-2015, Gaudium Press) The city of Naples, in southern Italy, is getting ready to receive a pastoral visit of Pope Francis scheduled for March 21.
In the last few days the diocesan community has been organizing a series of meetings concerning the Pope’s visit. On weekends leading up to the 21st lay groups in the diocese will promote events in about 70 squares and major avenues of Naples. The official programme for Pope Francis’ visit to Pompeii and Naples was published Tuesday by the Vatican Press Office.
The one-day visit scheduled for Saturday, 21 March will begin at 7am in the Vatican where the Pope will board a helicopter that will take him to the Shrine of Pompeii where he will gather in prayer.
At 9am Pope Francis is due to arrive in Scampia, an impoverished area close to Naples where he will meet with the community in the John Paul II Square.
Midmorning sees the Pope celebrating Mass in Naples’ central Piazza del Plebiscito.
A special moment will be dedicated to prison inmates when the Pope travels to the “Giuseppe Salvia” Detention Centre in Poggioreale where he will also share lunch with some of the detainees.
In the early afternoon he is scheduled to venerate the relics of Saint Gennaro and meet with the clergy, the religious and the deacons in the city’s main Cathedral.
Before departing for the Vatican at approximately 6pm, Pope Francis will visit some sick people in the Basilica del Gesù and will meet a group of young people at a venue on the Caracciolo sea-front.
With information from Vatican Radio
