The Pope at Rome’s town hall, the Campidoglio: “The Jubilee will have a positive impact on Rome”

At 9am today, Monday 10 June, Pope Francis arrived at the Capitoline Hill, on an official visit to the institutional heart of Rome, in the first event of a series of diplomatic initiatives ahead of the Jubilee, with six months to go until the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s.

It is the third time the Pope has visited the Campidoglio. He came first in 2019 visit and then in 2020 he came to the piazza outside for a peace vigil promoted by the Sant'Egidio Community.

The Mayor of the Italian capital, Roberto Gualtieri, resplendent in his tricolor sash, welcomed the Pontiff. Pope Francis then headed - accompanied by the music of the trumpets of the faithful from the town of Vitorchiano - towards the Tabularium to stop at the first arch overlooking the Roman Forum. After a private conversation in the Senatorial Palace, followed by a greeting for the Mayor's family and Secretariat in the Tapestry Room, the Pope went to the Flag Room where he signed the Golden Book of the Municipality of Rome, before visiting the Julius Caesar Hall, the Capitoline "parliament".

“The Jubilee will have a positive impact on the face of Rome,” said Pope Francis during the ceremony in the Hall, “by improving its decor and making public services more efficient, not only in the center. And this is very important because the city is growing.

“May Rome continue to show its true face, a welcoming, hospitable, generous, noble face. The enormous influx into the city of pilgrims, tourists and migrants, with all that that means in terms of organization, could be seen as a burden, a burden that slows down and hinders the normal flow of things. But this is Rome, this is what makes Rome different, unique in the world, this is its honor, its great attraction and its responsibility towards Italy, towards the Church, towards the human family.

“May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani, watch over the city and the people of Rome,” concluded the Pope before greeting the faithful, many of them Roman citizens, in the square. He has already thanked the citizens of the Eternal City several times for their patience in putting up with the construction work taking place for the Jubilee.

At the end of the visit, a commemorative plaque was unveiled, with the inscription: "To His Holiness Francis, successor of Peter and bishop of Rome, promoter of care for the Common Home and witness of universal brotherhood".