At dawn on May 9th in St Paul’s Basilica, several hundred young people from thirty of Rome’s parishes wound up a pilgrimage around the tomb of the Apostle where they took part in a solemn Mass celebrated by the Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini. The prayer journey began during the night at the Roman Forum in front of the Mamertine prison, before moving onto the Basilica of St Sebastian on the Via Appia and the Abbey of the Three Fountains, all places connected to the memory of St Paul’s imprisonment and martyrdom. At the start of the pilgrimage the young people received a chain as a symbol of slavery or imprisonment and they were then encouraged to reflect on the theme ‘Freed to proclaim freedom’. The pilgrimage, promoted spontaneously for this Pauline year by three prefectures in the diocese (the XIV, XV and XXIII) received the support of the diocesan youth pastoral services.
