Pompeii and Naples await the Pope. The stages erected, the banners hung. The emotions of those who will meet him personally in the morning and then in the afternoon are kept temporarily, but not too much, in check. The pilgrims arrive in Piazza Bartolo Longo. Someone is preparing with sleeping bags to spend the night near the barriers to be among the first to greet the Pontiff. They are displayed in the shop windows, alongside seasonal clothes t-shirts depicting Leone and in souvenir shops the fridge magnet with the image of Leo dominates the other effigies.
From the archaeological excavations, a few hundred meters from the sanctuary, curious tourists head towards the centre. They ask about Bartolo Longo, the reason for his attachment to the rosary and whether it is still possible to be able to participate in tomorrow’s mass. Five thousand people are expected in the square in front of the basilica plus another two thousand in the adjacent squares and an unknown number who will crowd the main streets despite the barriers.
The Pope begins his visit to Pompeii with the least fortunate, with the people coming from difficult situations, welcomed in the various centers of the Sanctuary of Pompeii. The meeting with what has been defined the Temple of charity, takes place in the Trapani room. Immediately afterwards, in the sanctuary, the meeting with the sick and people with disabilities.
Finally, the mass in the square in front of the basilica before the supplication to the Madonna of Pompeii, also recalling the words she spoke on 8 May last year, the day of her election. «Today is the day of the Supplication to the Madonna of Pompeii»he had said, looking out from the Loggia of Blessings for the first time in Ponteficie. «Our Mother Mary always wants to walk with us, stay close, help us with her intercession and love. Then I would like to pray together with you. Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole Church, for peace in the world and let us ask this special grace from Mary, our Mother.”
In Naples, among the people who will greet Leone with a kiss on the hand is also the mother of little Domenico, the child who died following a damaged heart transplant.
