Prayer, anticipation and hard work: How San Marino awaits Pope Leo
San Marino prepares to welcome Pope Leo XIV with prayer, joyful anticipation and a renewed appreciation of the Republic’s Christian roots.
By Eugenio Murrali and Francesca Merlo - San Marino
Seven people sit together in a room beneath a painting of The Little Prince. Sea creatures made from paper plates and tissue paper hang from the ceiling, bright with colours and varnish. We are in the “Il Colore del Grano” Complex Operational Unit, part of San Marino’s residential centre for people with disabilities, where anticipation is growing ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the Republic on Saturday, 22 August. Some of the residents, accompanied by relatives and members of staff, will await the Pope along the route that will take him up Mount Titano, first to the Palazzo Pubblico and then to the Basilica of San Marino.
“Il Colore del Grano”
Antonia Cecchetti already knows what she would like to say to him. She will ask the Pope to pray for peace because, she explains, she is horrified to see so many children dying under bombs. Marinella Casali, meanwhile, looks back to 1982, when she met Pope John Paul II during his visit to San Marino. Graziella Ceci has prepared plenty of questions: she wants to know the name of Pope Leo’s mother and how old the Pope is. Leano Bernardi clenches his fists and declares: “I’m happy!”
The residents have also made several gifts: a small rosary with white and light-blue beads - the colours of the Republic of San Marino - and a letter containing their values, ideas and reflections.
“Together with the residents,” explains Francesca Civerchia, director of the facility, “we have undertaken several activities to help them fully understand, from their own perspective, the importance of the moment we are about to experience.”
At around 7:30 on Saturday morning, some 50 people - including residents, relatives and members of staff - will set out for the place from which they will greet Pope Leo. Ambra Bernardi, the centre’s coordinator, says the news of the Pope’s visit generated enormous excitement at “Il Colore del Grano” and prompted many people to take part.
“We can’t wait for Saturday morning.”
The Little Prince and the Fox painted on one of the wallsAmong the Republic’s older residents
A little further down the road, ten residents are waiting for us at the Complex Operational Unit for Residential Care for Older People, together with its director, Cinzia Cesarini. They are eager to share the emotion with which they await the Pope’s arrival.
Most of the facility’s 114 residents are resting after lunch, but these ten have stayed behind to meet us. Elegantly dressed, they hold sheets of paper on their laps bearing their thoughts, carefully printed and placed in transparent sleeves. They are ready to tell us what the visit means to them.
Renata and Alba Zanotti are the first to read aloud the hopes and requests for prayer they wish to address to the Pope. For Domenico Capicchioni, the anticipation brings back memories of another papal visit: that of Pope John Paul II, who came to San Marino in 1982. Nazareno Carattoni recalls a visit he made to the Vatican Museums. Margherita Scagliola is especially keen to express her joy at the opportunity to greet, at such close quarters, the Pope who speaks to her every Sunday about peace and urges her to reject war.
The Basilica of the patron saint
The Pope’s final stop in San Marino will be the Basilica dedicated to the founding saint and patron who gave his name to the small Republic. We are welcomed by its Rector, Salesian Fr Marco Mazzanti. Everyone is hard at work preparing for 22 August.
Built during the first half of the nineteenth century to a design by the Bolognese architect Antonio Serra, the basilica stands on the remains of a fourth-century parish church dedicated to Saint Marinus the Deacon. It houses the relics of the Republic’s patron and founder, including the major relic of his skull.
Fr Mazzanti explains that preparations for the Pope’s arrival go far beyond the practical work of readying the Basilica. “The Basilica is the mother church of San Marino and of the territory of the Republic,” he says. Preparing for Pope Leo’s visit therefore means “rediscovering the roots of this people,” which lie in an ideal of freedom deeply grounded in Christian values.
The faithful are awaiting the Pope “with great anticipation, immense joy in their hearts, but also with a great deal of hard work,” the Rector continues. Their spiritual preparations have included a special prayer for the Pope, the diocese and the Republic, as well as a series of educational, cultural and religious events.
Among these were a presentation of Pope Leo’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, organised by the Augustinian Sisters of Pennabilli, and a meeting entitled A Year with Pope Prevost, led by the editorial director of the Vatican Publishing House. “All these elements have helped to prepare the ground,” Fr Mazzanti says, “allowing us to welcome the Holy Father with joy.”
At the heart of San Marino’s spiritual identity is the saint after whom the Republic is named. “To speak of Saint Marinus,” the Rector explains, “is to speak not only of a saint and a founder, but also of a head of state.” Saint Marinus founded the community upon “the values of freedom, truth and Christian love,” which remain central to its religious identity.
The Salesian community, which has a strong presence in San Marino, is approaching the visit in the spirit of Saint John Bosco. Fr Mazzanti recalls that Don Bosco had “three great spiritual loves: Jesus in the Eucharist, Mary the Mother of God, and the Supreme Pontiff.”
“We look to the Pope first and foremost as the Successor of Peter,” he says. This devotion is expressed by praying for the Pope’s ministry and for the universal Church. The Salesian spirit is also reflected in the community’s particular concern for young people, whom it seeks to educate through the Preventive System handed down by Saint John Bosco.
