Jubilee pilgrimage 31.1.-4.2.2025
The joint pilgrimage of the Nordic Dioceses to Rome brought together around 1100 Catholics from all five Nordic countries and, it is fair to say, from all over the world.
Events can go back quite a long way. The Jubilee Year was announced well in advance. Already in the summer of 2024, the Bishops’ Conference began to prepare a joint pilgrimage of the Nordic Dioceses to Rome. Preparations were made in the Dioceses in working groups appointed by the Bishops and at the Nordic level in a working group set up by Sister Anna Mirijam Kaschner CPS, Secretary General of the Bishops’ Conference. The representatives of the Dioceses’ communications departments were also actively involved in this group.
In Finland, too, a decision was quickly reached to reserve 50 seats on the plane and a charter bus in Rome. Through contacts, the beautiful but somewhat remote Villa Palazzola on the eastern edge of Lake Albano, a few dozen kilometres from the centre of Rome, was chosen as the place to stay. “Sure, it would have been great had we been able to stay in the centre, but this way our group had perhaps more time to get to know each other and to pray and eat together,” said one of the pilgrims, Sara Torvalds. The first day of travel was Friday January 31.
Among these 50 pilgrims, there was a quota for each parish. In addition, a number of Finns travelled to Rome on their own initiative and were then involved in the joint events on the spot. Also Prelate Tuomo T. Vimpari, who lives in Rome, and theology students Viktor Torres Airava and Iita Haataja brought more knowledge of Rome to the group.
The only priest travelling from Finland was Bishop Raimo himself. Thus under his guidance, the Finnish group travelled from the hostel to the city centre and back, as well as between different places, delighting in the fact that a spiritual leader could also serve as the most skilful “tour guide”. In addition to the bishop, the diocesan clergy was represented by Chien Nguyen, who had just been ordained a deacon.
Saturday 1.2. – Nordic fellowship and the universality of the Church
Organising a thousand pilgrims is no trivial task. The first joint effort was a Mass in the Basilica of St. John Lateran on Saturday morning. The group of pilgrims successfully passed through the holy door of this mother church of all Catholic churches in the world – the cathedral of the Pope, the Bishop of Rome – and found their places in the church. At the beginning of the Mass, the choir sang the hymn of the Jubilee and the people, each in their own Nordic language, sang the hymn “Now thanks be to God”, in Swedish “Nu tacka Gud allt folk”. The organ was played with professional skill by Ulf Samuelsson, music consultant for the Diocese of Stockholm. The different Nordic languages were heard in harmony at this and all the joint Masses, in addition to the common liturgical language of Latin and the English used in the sermons. The Nordic aspect, and at the same time the universality of the Church, both in Rome and in all the Nordic Dioceses, was ever present. The Mass was celebrated by Erik Varden OCSO, President of the Nordic Bishops’ Conference, Bishop-Prelate of Trondheim. In his sermon, he recalled that “in standing here, we, pilgrims of hope, express our willingness to let hope do its purifying and transforming work in us”.
The programme, although not very packed throughout the day, was quite intense – something familiar to all visitors to Rome, of course. “I did miss a bit more time to talk to people from other Nordic countries. I did manage to meet a few people I knew. They were warm encounters,” said Sara Torvalds. The Norwegians did seem to have more to do together socially, although their pilgrimage was also longer than that of the other countries.
On Saturday afternoon, everyone walked through the Holy Door to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where Vespers were prayed, kead by the Bishop of Copenhagen, Czeslaw Kozon. Magnus Andersson from the Diocese of Stockholm was the master of ceremonies for these and, in fact, all the joint liturgies.
Sunday 2.2. – Presentation of the Lord
On Sunday morning, the bus of the Finnish group headed towards St. Peter’s Square where the pilgrims participated in the noon Angelus prayer. Pope Francis greeted the crowd from the window of the Apostolic Palace, recalling how bringing the baby Jesus to the temple brought something completely new: the elderly Simeon and Hannah saw in him the long-awaited Messiah. Simeon called Jesus salvation, a light and a sign of contradiction – the fulfilment of God’s love, revealing the true thoughts of hearts. The Pope urged us to ask ourselves what we wait for in our lives and whether we really long to see the face of the Lord.
In the afternoon, the groups from the different countries separated, at least in part, to their own programmes. The Finns headed for the catacombs of St. Sebastian. There they learned about the fate of the early Christians and then attended Mass celebrated by Bishop Raimo on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
For those who dare to “dive” into the underground corridors and discover the reality of first-century Christianity, the catacombs have a lot to offer. There, if anywhere, one can truly relate to the events of nearly two thousand years ago, wholeheartedly profess the same faith as the early Christians, and understand in a tangible way how great the faith of our predecessors must have been and how great the meaning of their faithfulness is also for us as Christians of today.
Monday 3.2. – Pope Francis and St. Ansgar
Early Monday morning we set off again for the Vatican. The destination was to meet Pope Francis at a “private audience” in the reception hall of Paul VI in the Vatican. What made it a private audience was the fact that only pilgrims from the Nordic Dioceses were present, meaning a bit more than a thousand Catholics.
Waiting for the Pope always involves a bit of market hype, and this was no exception. The pilgrims had originally been told that a few believers from each country would be allowed to shake hands with the Pope. Unfortunately, the Pope was already in such poor health that the plans had to be changed and the shaking of hands could not take place. There was some disappointment, but “in the end everything went well,” says Sara Torvalds.
In his speech [link], the Holy Father reminded that although the Church in the Nordic countries is small, it is growing, faithful to God’s promises. He encouraged the Nordic Catholics to grow stronger in faith, hope and love and to continue evangelising, especially to the marginalised. Finally, the Pope encouraged young people in particular to follow Jesus and wished everyone a blessed pilgrimage.
The afternoon was perhaps the second highlight of the pilgrimage, as pilgrims gathered at the start of the Via della Conciliazione leading towards the Vatican and set off in procession along the specially marked “Way of Hope” towards St Peter’s Basilica. Once through the Holy Door, they continued towards the back of the church, where, under the window of Bernini’s Holy Spirit, the Mass of St. Ansgar, celebrated by Cardinal Anders Arborelius OCD, was about to begin on the Cathedra altar. There again, the opening chant “Holy, Holy, Holy! Our great God” was sung in different languages. Fittingly, the Catholics of the Nordic countries were able to celebrate the feast of their common saint under the protection of God and St. Peter. Ansgar (810-865) was, after all, the “Apostle of the North”, later Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, and is credited with bringing Christianity and establishing the first Catholic parishes in Denmark and Sweden.
In his sermon, Cardinal Arborelius reminded that, like Ansgar, the mission of today’s Catholics in the Nordic countries is “to spread faith, hope and love”. “Even if we may not achieve anything great, we can always pray for the people around us.”
In the evening, the Finns stopped by the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to pray at the tomb of the Holy Apostle Paul. “And the next morning, before leaving, we had time to celebrate mass together at our place of accommodation. It was a good end to all our experiences,” says a grateful Sara Torvalds.
Pilgrims of hope
Comments from pilgrimage participants in different countries have been grateful. According to Sara Torvalds, “it was really good to have pilgrims from all the parishes – there should be more encounters like this”, as they also clearly strengthen the unity of the Diocese. Mattias Lindström in Sweden’s Katolskt Magasin aptly stated: “The Nordic Catholic community has certainly been strengthened by these days, as has the freedom to openly express one’s Catholic faith. Where all this will lead when the pilgrims return home remains to be seen.”
Marko Tervaportti
For this article, Sara Torvalds (Finland), Hans Rossiné (Norway) and Regitze Engelhardt Fuhrmann (Denmark) were interviewed and an article in Katolskt magasin (2/2025), among others, was consulted. Photos by Sara Torvalds.