St Peter’s Basilica

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St. Peter’s Basilica introduces new ‘prayer entrance’ amid influx of tourism

April 14, 2023 Catholic News Agency 1
In response to the long wait times to enter St. Peter’s Basilica, those who wish to enter for Mass, confession, or adoration can now do so via a special “prayer entrance” immediately to the right of the barricades to enter through the metal detectors on the right side of the piazza. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Apr 14, 2023 / 13:15 pm (CNA).

With 100,000 people cramming into St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday, the lines to enter the Vatican basilica have returned to their pre-pandemic wait times.

In light of the influx of tourists to the Eternal City, the Vatican has introduced a separate “prayer entrance” for Catholics who want to enter St. Peter’s Basilica for Mass, confession, or adoration.

The entrance, signaled only by a small sign, is immediately to the right of the barricades to enter through the metal detectors on the right side of the piazza.

In response to the long wait times to enter St. Peter's Basilica, those who wish to enter for Mass, confession, or adoration can now do so via a special "prayer entrance" marked with a sign immediately to the right of the barricades to enter through the metal detectors on the right side of the piazza. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
In response to the long wait times to enter St. Peter’s Basilica, those who wish to enter for Mass, confession, or adoration can now do so via a special “prayer entrance” marked with a sign immediately to the right of the barricades to enter through the metal detectors on the right side of the piazza. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Mountain Butorac, who leads small groups of Catholics on pilgrimages to Rome with his company The Catholic Traveler, calls the prayer entrance “long overdue.”

According to Butorac, it can take up to two hours of waiting in a long line to enter St. Peter’s Basilica during the peak tourism season.

“When I first moved to Rome, I was always going to Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s … but then standing in line for an hour and a half to go to Mass got old pretty fast,” he told CNA.

“We also do weekly family confession there and we always would have to go right at 7 or 8 a.m. And now we can go later in the day,” he added.

Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, said the prayer entrance was introduced during Holy Week on an “experimental basis.”

“In line with the Holy Father’s wish, we would like to restore maximum accessibility to the sanctuary for spiritual, liturgical, and celebratory life,” Gambetti said.

The cardinal expressed hope that the new entrance will “allow the faithful, prayer groups, and pilgrims to come to pray in St. Peter’s and participate in the sacraments easily, without waiting in long queues.”

The prayer entrance will soon lead to a “pilgrim path” designated by red velvet ropes that will guide people along the right side wall of the basilica, while the throngs of tourists and guided groups will remain in the main part of the basilica.

The new path will bring pilgrims past Michelangelo’s Pietà and the tomb of St. John Paul II directly to the chapel with daily eucharistic adoration and the back corner of the basilica reserved for confessions.

Pilgrims will also be able to access two of the chapels where daily public Masses are held: the Altar of the Chair and Altar of St. Joseph.

In response to the long wait times to enter St. Peter's Basilica, those who wish to enter for Mass, confession, or adoration can now do so via a special "prayer entrance" immediately to the right of the barricades to enter through the metal detectors on the right side of the piazza. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA
In response to the long wait times to enter St. Peter’s Basilica, those who wish to enter for Mass, confession, or adoration can now do so via a special “prayer entrance” immediately to the right of the barricades to enter through the metal detectors on the right side of the piazza. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

However, it appears that the Vatican is still coordinating the logistics of this prayer path after the soft launch of the new entrance during Holy Week, as the current prayer entrance merely drops pilgrims off at the front of the line to enter through security, essentially allowing those who wish to access the sacraments in the basilica an option to “skip the line.”

To enter, tell the security guard near the new prayer entrance sign that you are coming to the basilica to pray.

Elizabeth Hince, who lives near St. Peter’s Basilica with her husband and two young children, said: “We’re very excited to not have to get up at 7 a.m. to avoid the line when we want to go to confession or adoration!”

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PHOTOS: Nighttime eucharistic adoration in St. Peter’s Square

March 15, 2023 Catholic News Agency 0
There was a candlelit path to the altar holding the Eucharist during adoration in St. Peter’s Square on March 14, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Mar 15, 2023 / 09:30 am (CNA).

The Vatican held its first monthly eucharistic adoration in the area in front of St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday night.

The first monthly eucharistic adoration in St. Peter's Square, March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
The first monthly eucharistic adoration in St. Peter’s Square, March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA

The March adoration was led by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv, who is the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica. The holy hour was offered for Pope Francis in light of his 10th anniversary as pope.

Eucharistic adoration at the Vatican on March 14, 2023, included music, Scripture readings, and prayers. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Eucharistic adoration at the Vatican on March 14, 2023, included music, Scripture readings, and prayers. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti lifts the Eucharist during benediction at the end of adoration March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti lifts the Eucharist during benediction at the end of adoration March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti genuflects in front of the monstrance during eucharistic adoration in St. Peter's Square March 15, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Cardinal Mauro Gambetti genuflects in front of the monstrance during eucharistic adoration in St. Peter’s Square March 15, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Several hundred adorers gathered at the Vatican to take part in the hour of prayer, which included music, Scripture readings, and prayers interspersed with moments of silence.

Religious sisters pray during eucharistic adoration in St. Peter's Square March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Religious sisters pray during eucharistic adoration in St. Peter’s Square March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
A woman prays in front of the Eucharist during a holy hour in St. Peter's Square March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
A woman prays in front of the Eucharist during a holy hour in St. Peter’s Square March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Adorers kneel in front of the Eucharist in St. Peter's Square March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Adorers kneel in front of the Eucharist in St. Peter’s Square March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Large orange candles created a visual pathway to the Eucharist, which was displayed in a gold monstrance set on an altar.

Adoration concluded with Benediction.

There was a candlelit path to the altar holding the Eucharist during adoration in St. Peter's Square March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
There was a candlelit path to the altar holding the Eucharist during adoration in St. Peter’s Square March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
The Eucharist was displayed in a gold monstrance for adoration in St. Peter's Square March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
The Eucharist was displayed in a gold monstrance for adoration in St. Peter’s Square March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Benediction during the first monthly eucharistic adoration in front of St. Peter's Basilica March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Benediction during the first monthly eucharistic adoration in front of St. Peter’s Basilica March 14, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNA

The eucharistic adoration, a new pastoral initiative of St. Peter’s Basilica, will take place the second Tuesday of every month from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

It is open to the public.

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St. Peter’s Basilica to hold monthly Eucharistic adoration on portico

March 9, 2023 Catholic News Agency 1
St. Peter’s Basilica. / feliks/Shutterstock.

Vatican City, Mar 9, 2023 / 11:00 am (CNA).

St. Peter’s Basilica will now host an hour of Eucharistic adoration on its front portico once a month.

Beginning March 14, adoration will take place every second Tuesday from 8-9 p.m. on the parvise in front of the Vatican basilica leading to St. Peter’s Square.

The holy hour, according to a press release, is part of the pastoral initiatives of the basilica.

The March 14 adoration will be led by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv., who is the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica. The prayer will be offered for Pope Francis in light of his 10th anniversary as pope.

St. Peter’s Basilica is typically open every day from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the winter or 7 p.m. in the summer.

The Eucharist is also exposed in St. Peter’s Basilica for adoration in the Chapel of the Most Blessed Sacrament from approximately 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

A monthly Eucharistic holy hour in front of St. Peter’s Basilica is added to other initiatives started by Cardinal Gambetti after he was appointed archpriest in February 2021.

In October 2022, the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica was illuminated with a 3-D projection mapping of art from the Vatican Museums. The eight-minute light show, called “Follow Me: The Life of St. Peter,” played every night for two weeks.

Last year the Vatican also held the Stations of the Cross in the basilica every Friday during Lent. The prayer was accompanied by paintings of the Passion of Christ by the Italian artist Gaetano Previati (1852-1920).

During his tenure, Gambetti also enacted a ban on the celebration of private Masses at the altars in the upper part of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Though early morning Masses by groups “with particular and legitimate needs” may be allowed, in general, private Masses can now only be celebrated in the chapels in the Vatican crypt. Visitors to the basilica may also participate in regularly scheduled Italian language Masses in the basilica and priests may concelebrate.

The change was criticized by Cardinals Joseph Zen, Robert Sarah, Raymond Burke, Gerhard Müller, and Walter Brandmüller.

Pope Francis also led Eucharistic adoration and gave an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing on the portico of St. Peter’s Basilica on March 27, 2020, to pray for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The televised prayer took place before an empty square since Italy’s lockdown prevented attendance.

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Vatican invites Protestant, Orthodox theologians to debate Petrine primacy at St. Peter’s

October 20, 2022 Catholic News Agency 3
Sculpture of St. Peter outside of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican / Credit: Unsplash

Vatican City, Oct 20, 2022 / 09:05 am (CNA).

The Vatican will host a discussion inside St. Peter’s Basilica next month between a Catholic, a Protestant, and an Orthodox theologian on the primacy of Peter.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture, announced Oct. 20 that the Petrine primacy dialogue will take place in the basilica on Nov. 22 with the theme “On this rock, I will build my Church.”

The theological discussion is part of a new lecture series on the apostle Peter in history, art, and culture that will take place in the basilica starting Oct. 25 and running through March 2023.

The Catholic Church holds that Jesus gave St. Peter a special place or primacy among the apostles, citing the Gospel of Matthew 16:18–19.

The primacy of the bishop of Rome, as a successor of Peter, is one of the major issues of disagreement that has kept Orthodox Christians apart from the Catholic Church. Last year, Pope Francis told Orthodox theologians that it is his “conviction that in a synodal Church, greater light can be shed on the exercise of the Petrine primacy.”

At a Vatican press conference, Ravasi underlined that the new lecture series is not only for believers who want to find the reason for the hope that is in them but also aims to reach non-Catholics as well.

The cardinal said that Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the chief architect of St. Peter’s Basilica, envisioned the basilica’s colonnade as “two arms that could embrace not only Catholics from all over the world but also those who were heretics or of other faiths.”

Ravasi founded the Courtyard of the Gentiles foundation within the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education to promote dialogue between believers and nonbelievers through events, debates, and research.

Courtyard of the Gentiles is co-hosting the new lecture series along with the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, founded by Pope Francis in December 2021.

Ravasi will be the featured speaker at the first lecture in the basilica on Oct. 25 on the topic of St. Peter’s life and martyrdom, which will feature a string quartet performance of Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus and Handel’s Cantate Domino.

The Vatican has not released the names of the theologians who will be speaking at the Petrine primacy discussion in November in the basilica, whose foundation is built on the tomb of St. Peter.

The two lectures scheduled for 2023 will focus on a more “cultural dimension” of the apostle Peter, Ravasi said. A lecture on Jan. 17 will analyze the figure of St. Peter in history and culture and a March 7 event titled “Quo vadis” will look at how Peter has been portrayed in art, literature, music, and film.

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PHOTOS: Scenes from the feast of saints Peter and Paul in Rome

July 2, 2022 Catholic News Agency 1
An image of St. Peter in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on June 29, 2022. / Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Jul 2, 2022 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, whose official name is the joint Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, is the commemoration of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus, celebrated on June 29.

As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI recalled in 2012, “Christian tradition has always considered St. Peter and St. Paul as inseparable: together, in fact, they represent the whole Gospel of Christ… Although humanly very different from one another, and despite the fact that there was no lack of conflict in their relationship, they constituted a new way of being brothers, lived according to the Gospel, an authentic way made possible by the grace of the Gospel of Christ at work in them. Only the following of Jesus leads to the new fraternity.”

The feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, whose official name is the joint Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, is the commemoration of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus, celebrated on June 29. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
The feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, whose official name is the joint Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, is the commemoration of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus, celebrated on June 29. Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Francis participated in the Mass for the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, patron saints of Rome, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. He presided over the opening rites of the Mass and gave the homily on June 29, 2022. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Pope Francis participated in the Mass for the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, patron saints of Rome, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. He presided over the opening rites of the Mass and gave the homily on June 29, 2022. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
The ceremony on June 29, 2022, was attended by members of the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Pope Francis also blessed the pallia for the metropolitan archbishops appointed in the last year. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
The ceremony on June 29, 2022, was attended by members of the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Pope Francis also blessed the pallia for the metropolitan archbishops appointed in the last year. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
During the homily on June 29, 2022, the Pope encourage the faithful to set out beyond our inner resistance and made an invitation to stand up as a synodal Church. Pope Francis used the witness of Peter and Paul to reiterate his idea of an outgoing, moving, missionary Church. Not to fall, the Pope says, "into formalism and habit." Remembering that the proclamation of the Gospel is not neutral and does not bend to the logic of the world. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
During the homily on June 29, 2022, the Pope encourage the faithful to set out beyond our inner resistance and made an invitation to stand up as a synodal Church. Pope Francis used the witness of Peter and Paul to reiterate his idea of an outgoing, moving, missionary Church. Not to fall, the Pope says, “into formalism and habit.” Remembering that the proclamation of the Gospel is not neutral and does not bend to the logic of the world. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
As is the tradition every year on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis blessed the pallia of the metropolitan archbishops he appointed during the past year. At the end of the Mass, he gave each archbishop present his pallium in a small box tied with a brown ribbon on June 29, 2022. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
As is the tradition every year on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis blessed the pallia of the metropolitan archbishops he appointed during the past year. At the end of the Mass, he gave each archbishop present his pallium in a small box tied with a brown ribbon on June 29, 2022. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Pallia are white woolen vestments adorned with six black silk crosses given to metropolitan archbishops. They symbolize the metropolitan’s authority and unity with the Successor of Peter. It is similar to a stole and is used as a scapular. The wool signifies the harshness of the rebuke to the rebels; the white color, the benevolence towards the humble and penitent. It has four crosses placed in front and behind, to the right and to the left, which means that the bishop must possess life, science, doctrine and power. It is also related to the four cardinal virtues, tinged with purple by faith in the Passion of Christ. June 29, 2022. Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Pallia are white woolen vestments adorned with six black silk crosses given to metropolitan archbishops. They symbolize the metropolitan’s authority and unity with the Successor of Peter. It is similar to a stole and is used as a scapular. The wool signifies the harshness of the rebuke to the rebels; the white color, the benevolence towards the humble and penitent. It has four crosses placed in front and behind, to the right and to the left, which means that the bishop must possess life, science, doctrine and power. It is also related to the four cardinal virtues, tinged with purple by faith in the Passion of Christ. June 29, 2022. Daniel Ibañez/CNA

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PHOTOS: Pilgrims honor Mary in St. Peter’s Basilica

May 12, 2022 Catholic News Agency 1
Prayer for Mary in St. Peter’s Basilica on May 11, 2022 / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, May 12, 2022 / 10:02 am (CNA).

On Wednesdays during the month of May, pilgrims can gather in St. Peter’s Basilica for a prayer service honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary.

On May 11, the prayer began at the entrance of the basilica, in front of the holy door, and was followed by a procession through the basilica, stopping at images of the Virgin Mary.

The Marian artistic works in the basilica include Michelangelo’s sculpture of the Pietà, the ancient image of Mater Ecclesiae (Mother of the Church), a small painting of Mater Peregrinorum (Pilgrim’s Mother), and large mosaics of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven and the Presentation of Mary.

Mass at the altar of the Chair of St. Peter concluded the prayer service.

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