On 22 August Pope Leo XIV will visit the Republic of San Marino, before going to the Meeting in Rimini. Here is the program of an apostolic visit rich in historical and cultural meanings
So small, so similar to the Vatican State. Yet, so different in being sweetly bucolic, compared to a Holy See ineluctably immersed in the frenzy of the Eternal City. The August 22nd it will be a very special day, for San Marino (which we have briefly introduced above, underlining its landscape peculiarities) as well as for Pope Leo XIV.
The Pontiff will in fact visit that tiny state adjacent to the charming Romagna, kissed by the sun and bulimically frequented by hordes of tourists, enchanted by its Adriatic amenities.
The highly anticipated visit and then the return to Italy, with a stop at the 47th edition of Rimini meeting.
The morning of Pope Leo XIV in San Marino
The time is limited to a single morning, the program is particularly intense. The Holy Father will land in the morning at the Torraccia airfield. From here, accompanied by a Vatican delegation, he will reach Piazza della Libertà, through a route specifically designed to allow him to warmly greet the San Marino population along the way.
And then to the square, where the diplomatic-institutional portion: military honors, playing of the national anthems, official meetings at the Palazzo Pubblico with the highest authorities of the State. In the late morning, however, the Pope will look out from the balcony to impart his blessing to the gathered crowd.
After the diplomatic phase, Pope Leo XIV will move to Basilica of Santo Marinoin which his personal reflection and a sincere homage to the relics of the founder of the Republic will be held. Finally, having greeted San Marino, Rimini will be waiting for him, where the Pontiff will represent the icing on the cake of the event focused on friendship between peoples.
The centenary of diplomatic relations between San Marino and the Vatican
The visit of Pope Leo XIV falls at a moment full of extraordinary symbolic value. Specifically, this year marks the centenary of diplomatic relations between the Republic of San Marino and the Holy See: a detail underlined by Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs San Marino Luca Beccariwho spoke of an «extraordinary event of the highest institutional, diplomatic and spiritual importance».
On the ecclesial side, Bishop Monsignor Domenico Beneventi did not hide his enthusiasm, defining the visit as “an immense gift, a caress of Providence that arrives at a historical moment in which we all feel the need to find strong reasons to hope and walk together”. They have passed fifteen years since the last visit of a Pope to San Marino. It was still the era of Joseph Ratzinger, at the final stages of his enlightened magisterium imbued with conservatism, in contrast with a world that has lost its way, sinking more and more irremediably towards a progressive and nihilistic drift.
Bergoglio had never traveled to the Republic nestled in Italian territory. Pope Leo XIV, on the contrary, decided to re-establish relations on such a special occasion. San Marino awaits him with open arms.
