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The Catholic Traveler

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06/01/2025

From Christmas Day through Epiphany, Santa Maria Maggiore brings out the relics of Christ’s Holy Manger and places them on a tall pedestal in the center of the church. The relics are always on display and you can actually get even closer when they are in their normal location, but it’s cool to see when churches do things like this. For those wondering… the relics were brought to Rome in the seventh century by our last Palestinian pope, Pope Theodore — did you know we had a few Popes from Palestine? He also brought the body of Saint Jerome, originally buried in Bethlehem, and some bones from the Holy Innocents. All these relics were placed in Santa Maria Maggiore, and became known as the Bethlehem of Rome. The relics of the manger survived those first six hundred years, in part, because the early church that was built over the place where Christ was born, was spared during many of the early sieges on Jerusalem and the surrounding areas because in the mosaics, there are the three wise men, riding camels and wearing turbans, so the Persian invaders assumed their previous armies had already secured that location.

01/01/2025

…including three new-to-me countries (Croatia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, and Montenegro), group pilgrimages in twelve countries, 15 concerts across eight countries (U2 in USA, Patti Smith in Ireland, Taylor Swift in a lot of places, and the debut of Amelia performing with my dad in the US). A record six visits to the States. And, shockingly, my very first time becoming Diamond on Delta.

28/12/2024

In Bethlehem, below the Church of the Nativity, it is possible to visit the Chapel of the Holy Innocents, whose Feast we celebrate on December 28th. ⁣⁣
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The chapel is filled with hundreds of tiny skulls and bones. It is also said to contain relics of the Christians martyred by the Persians in the 7th century.⁣⁣
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The chapel also has this beautiful icon of Christ welcoming the children into Heaven.⁣⁣
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The chapel is not often open, so if you’ve been to the church of the Nativity and didn’t see this, don’t feel too bad. But you should travel with me next time, and I’ll see what I can do.⁣⁣
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And if you can’t get to Palestine right now, Pope Theodore brought some of the bones from the Holy Innocents to Rome. They are located in a side chapel of the Sistine Chapel in the basilica Santa Maria Maggiore.

26/12/2024

In addition to the things you might expect to be banned in a large group gathering, the following items are also not allowed into Saint Peter’s Square and through the Holy Doors…

Your $100 (or more) water bottles

Regular store bought water in it’s original container

Hand sanitizer

Perfume

Shaving cream 🤔 And razors 😂

Boxes of wine

Bottles of beer

Large cans of coffee beans

Tweezers

Tape measures

Jars of jam

Power banks / external chargers

LITERAL KNIVES 🤦🏻‍♂️

Those little hammer things that doctors use on your knees to test reflexes

These things will be removed from the first check point — there are multiple. But you can return later to collect them. You just place them on the sidewalk, so while the police are there, they do not guard your stuff or monitor who picks it up. So please be mindful of what you bring. Also, it kind of depends on who is checking bags. I saw some people get through with water and others could not.

25/12/2024

Which is your favorite nativity?

Pasta Jesus (Church in Rome)

Jesus Sandwich (Church in Rome)

Jalapeño Jesus (for sale and wish I’d bought it)

Jedi Jesu (Window in Assisi)

25/12/2024

Christmas morning.

23/12/2024

It’s Jubilee Eve! I only have four spots left across all my Rome Jubilee pilgrimages, and those are for the Lenten Pilgrimage in March. Station Churches, spring weather, alone in the Sistine Chapel, and a few nights in Assisi. It’s going to be lovely.

25/11/2024

Are you ready for the Rome Jubilee? I don’t think Rome is yet. 😂

But ALL my Rome Jubilee year pilgrimages launch tomorrow.

I’ve never advertised more than one trip at a time, so I have no idea how quickly they will fill up, but most of my pilgrimages have sold out in minutes the last several years.

If you don’t like crowds, this might not be the year for you to visit. Many graces will surely come to all who travel to Rome, so definitely make the trip if you can and are willing. But just know you will not have the city to yourself.

With the exception being my Holy Week pilgrimage, all my jubilee trips are planned to avoid the most crowded times.

Some estimates are predicting 39 million extra people traveling to Rome in 2025.

Just to add some perspective to that number…

Rounding down, and pretending that the numbers will be evenly spread throughout the year (they won’t), that’s around 700,000 additional people in Rome each week. For those who have been to Rome, a typical Wednesday Papal Audience has around 20,000 people (those are official numbers). Now imagine an extra 700,000 people. If you’ve ever been to Rome for Easter Sunday Mass, the biggest Papal Mass of the year, the official average number of attendees is 60,000. And for those who have been herded through the Vatican Museums, they get around 30,000 visitors per day. Now again, think about an extra 700,000 Catholics each week. Fun!

Below is the link to my Rome 2025 pilgrimages.

https://thecatholictraveler.com/2025-rome-jubilee-pilgrimages/

02/11/2024

All Souls’ Day

17/10/2024

The Holy Face of Manoppello. Have you seen it?

When Christ died, the Sudarium was placed over His face. The Shroud was wrapped around the entire body. And this cloth was placed on the outside of the Shroud.

The Sudarium is mostly blood, since it touched the wounds.

The Shroud has the image of the entire body.

The Holy Face shows the moment His eyes opened during the resurrection.

All three images line up perfectly.

The Holy Face cloth is made of a Mediterranean mollusk silk that cannot not hold pigment or color.

25/09/2024

Looking up in Rome.

23/09/2024

It’s the feast of Saint Padre Pio. I’ve never been to visit his tomb, but several years ago he went on tour and came to Rome.

His body was on display in a few churches around the city and there was a procession or two with his coffin.

To get him from place to place, they strapped the glass coffin to the back of a flatbed truck. Imagine a visitor to Rome randomly seeing that. 🤣

22/09/2024

Sunday morning sky.

14/09/2024

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, located in Rome, has four large pieces of wood from Christ’s cross, along with several other relics from the Passion. The church is nearly always empty, allowing those who visit plenty of time for quiet prayer.

🎵 by my dad

10/09/2024

Who’s excited for the 2025 Jubilee? This is Saint Peter’s Basilica on a quiet September morning. 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

05/09/2024

Holy Mass in Assisi

20/08/2024

A favorite chapel for Holy Mass — the Black Madonna in Jasna Gora.

12/08/2024

The Lithuania and Poland Pilgrimage begins.

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Video

Here at the Vatican, and in Rome, the Solemnity of the Epiphany is celebrated on January 6th — it seems the Magi walk a little faster in some dioceses, so they move it to Sunday. These are the Epiphany bells from Saint Mary Major, the tallest bell tower in Rome, and I think the best sounding bells in the city.

Today, on Jubilee Eve, Rome has reopened Piazza Pia, that connects Castel Sant’Angelo to Saint Peter’s Basilica. It’s a lovely pedestrian only piazza now, with fountains, trees, and plenty of seating. All car traffic is now directed under the piazza through the new tunnel. Good job, Rome! 👏👏👏 @jubileo2025mx @soprintendenzaspecialeroma