VATICAN: ACN pilgrims arrive as cardinals meet to choose new pope
More than 1,000 supporters of Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) arrive in Rome today for the start of their jubilee pilgrimage – hoping to be in the Eternal City when the new pope is announced.
Benefactors from the 23 countries where the charity has national offices are participating in the pilgrimage from 7th–10th May 2025, which was planned more than a year in advance.
ACN’s international head of press Maria Lozano said: “The timing, however, means that the ACN pilgrimage will be in Rome for the election of the new pope, a moment which is being met with great excitement by all.”
The conclave of cardinals will hold the first ballot for the new leader of the Catholic Church this evening (7th May).
Regina Lynch, international executive president of ACN, said although there was sadness that the originally planned private audience with Pope Francis could not take place, they were thankful for the late pontiff’s support for the charity’s work.
She said: “We know how deeply the Pope appreciated the efforts that our benefactors made to support the Church in Need.”
Ms Lynch added: “Praying before his grave will strengthen us to renew our mission. As a pontifical foundation, we will also be praying to be at the disposal of the future pope, as we have been since the first days of our work.”
The charity’s international executive president went on to say “the 2025 Jubilee is centred on hope, and hope was also a crucial issue for Pope Francis, and for us at ACN.
“With over 5,000 projects every year, in 130 countries, our mission is to console and give material aid, but especially to provide hope to persecuted and discriminated Christians, and to Christian communities in grave need.”
ACN will tomorrow (8th May) be holding an event in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, where survivors of persecution and violence will give first-hand accounts.
Among the speakers will be Father Bohdan Heleta, a Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priest held in a Russian military prison, and Father Olivier Niampa from Dori Docese, Burkina Faso, where jihadist terrorism is rife.
Representatives from Syria and Lebanon’s Christian communities are also set to talk at the event.
The pilgrims will also pass through the Holy Door in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
ACN’s president Cardinal Mauro Piacenza said: “The true pilgrim recognises that he has been seduced by false idols – selfishness, pride, money – and wishes to be cured by God’s mercy. Therefore, crossing the threshold of the Holy Door becomes an act of love and humility.”
Cardinal Piacenza added that ACN’s pilgrimage was a way of celebrating the jubilee in communion with the suffering Church and honouring Christians who give up their lives for their love of Christ.
Quoting Pope Francis’ bull for this jubilee year, he said: “The most convincing testimony to this hope is provided by the martyrs, who renounced life itself here below, rather than betray their Lord.”