Saints, popes, and prisons

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Luce, the controversial official mascot of the Jubilee, can now be found out and about in Rome. Here she is with a rough looking leprechaun.

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Pope Francis

The latest on Pope Francis is that he’s slowly improving. The Vatican is no longer giving twice daily updates on his condition. But we did get the first photo of him since he entered the hospital on February 14th.

The nightly rosary for the health of the Holy Father has moved back into the piazza at a more civilized time of 7:30 p.m. (Rome time). You can follow along live through all the Vatican social apps.

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Prison Holy Doors

In some personal news, my daughter was one of a few people invited to visit Italy’s biggest prison, Rebibbia. If you recall, Pope Francis opened a Holy Door here back in December. This means that she, and the others, had the opportunity to visit all five Holy Doors in Rome. They attended Mass with the prisoners, this is Italy, so of course the prison has a full Catholic Church on the property. They also got to hear a few of their stories.

A few things I found interesting from her visit.

• There is a little museum in the prison.

• There are cats wandering around.

• There is a secluded wing for mob bosses and priests. Both need to be kept away from the general population.

• Prisoners were wearing their own clothes. And those who have been locked away for 40 years, are dressed in fashion from 40 years ago.

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Lenten Station Churches

A teacher sent me this photo of her students watching my Lenten videos. I love getting messages like this. 💜

My Lenten Pilgrimage group just arrived, and they are incredible. We have some exciting things planned over the next nine days, including visits to some of this week’s station churches, being alone in the Sistine Chapel, visiting the rooms of Saint Philip Neri, climbing to the roof of Saint Mary Major, a visit to the Caravaggio exhibit, and some really, really great meals.

For those following along with the Lenten series, here are this week’s churches:

Monday – San Clemente

Tuesday – Santa Balbina

Wednesday – Santa Cecilia

Thursday – Santa Maria in Trastevere

Friday – San Vitale

Saturday – Santi Marcellino e Pietro

Sunday – San Lorenzo fuori le Mura

And for those planning to visit Rome during Lent, you’ll find all the Mass times for both the English and official Italian station Masses here.

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Thanks for reading!

Mountain