Rome Visit 2018

We arrived in Rome and headed straight to the Bede College. We celebrated mass together and enjoyed refreshments afterwards in the garden of the college with some of the student priests.

Our second stop was to St Paul’s Outside the Wall. We had a guided tour around the basilica and then had some time pray at the tomb of St Paul.

Day 2

Today we started by going to St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. We saw Michael Angelo’s famous sculpture La Pieta - Our Lady holding Jesus. We also prayed at the tomb of St Peter.

We went to the English College today and celebrated mass in the beautiful chapel. We then looked at the paintings that told the stories of the martyrs.

Enjoying lunch in a Pizzeria

We managed to fit in a visit to the Pantheon - a former Ancient Roman temple that is now a Church.

Making a wish at the Trevi Fountain

We bumped into Fr Dominic, our diocesan youth Chaplin who was recording a show for BBC Radio Essex. He asked some of the children about their experiences so far.

Day 3

In St Peter’s Square waiting for Pope Francis.

This morning we are in the presence of the Holy Father, Pope Francis. In his message he spoke about us using our gifts and following the 10 Commandments as well as living out our faith.

He reminded us that we are all made in God’s image, and should be kind and loving towards everyone. That being kind is a way to show our love and live the way God wants us to.
He gave us a blessing and extended that blessing to all of our family and friends back home.

Making new friends from a Catholic school in Poland.

The Colosseum and Constantine’s Arch.

We visited another basilica today, St John Lateran. In this church there is a piece of the table from the last supper. We spent some time in quiet prayer with the Blessed Sacrament.

Today ended in a very special way. We felt very close to our patron saint St Helen. We prayed the rosary on the Holy Steps. St Helen brought these steps back to Rome. They were from Pilot’s house. Jesus walked up these steps before he was crucified.

We then went to the church, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. In this church there are relics from the True Cross. There is a piece of the cross that St Helen found along with; thorns from the crown Jesus wore, nails from the cross, the sign that was hung above Jesus and St Thomas’ finger. We had mass on Santa Croce.

Day 4

Our final day started with Mass in the chapel in Villa Palazzola.

The view from our accommodation - Villa Palazzola.

Our last day in Rome we visited Castle Gandolfo - this is the Pope’s summer residence. However, Pope Francis doesn’t use it, so he has opened it up for the public to be able to visit.