Pilgrimages for Vatican Events

An event with a fixed date

A canonization, a beatification, a jubilee or an ad limina visit happens on a day the Church sets, not a day that suits a travel schedule. Everything else is built backwards from that date: the flights, the nights in Rome, the order the rest of the itinerary runs in, and where the group is standing on the morning itself.

Rome fills up around them

Hotels, coaches and guides in Rome are taken long before a major event, and the later a group starts the further from the centre it ends up staying. The groups that travel comfortably for these are the ones that began early. If you take one thing from this page, take that.

Groups of any size

We run Rome groups of every size, from a single coach to several hundred pilgrims across many. A large group is split across coaches and hotels for the week and brought together for the event itself, with a Canterbury tour manager on the ground throughout and a local guide at each site.

Start before the date is fixed

Tell us which event your group is watching, even if the date has not been confirmed yet. We hold the plan ready and move on rooms and coaches the moment it is announced, which is the whole difference between staying in Rome and staying an hour outside it.How it works →

Rome around the event

An event fills a morning, not a week. The rest of the trip is an ordinary Rome pilgrimage: the major basilicas, the Scavi and the catacombs, and time at the tombs of the Apostles. Start from our Rome route and tell us what you would change.Our Rome route →

Papal audience tickets

The Wednesday general audience is free to attend and the tickets are free: they are issued on request by the Prefecture of the Papal Household, never sold, and we request them for the group. There is generally no audience in July, and none on the great solemnities when the Holy Father celebrates a public Mass instead, so an itinerary built around an audience is built around those gaps.Common questions →

Events outside Rome

A canonization is celebrated at the Vatican and the Pope presides. A beatification is normally celebrated in the diocese the cause belongs to, with a papal representative presiding, so it may be anywhere in the world, including the United States. We build for those the same way.Blessed Fulton Sheen →

The day itself

Event mornings in Rome mean early starts, closed streets and very large crowds. We tell the group where to be and when, we move them as one, and we have a plan for the pilgrims who cannot stand for hours, because in a group of any size there are always some.What a pilgrimage is like →

A different kind of group?

We build the same trip for a diocese, a school, a youth group, a lay organisation, or a seminary or religious community. We also build pilgrimages to mark a priest’s anniversary. Tell us what the group is and we will build around it.

The date is set. The planning is not.

Tell us the event you are watching and we will start the plan before it is confirmed, so your group has rooms near the centre rather than an hour outside it.

Which events do you build for?

Jubilees, papal audiences, canonizations and beatifications, and ad limina visits for a diocese. If the Church has set a date and your group wants to be there, tell us and we will build it.

Can you get us into the papal audience?

The Wednesday general audience is free and so are the tickets. They are issued by the Prefecture of the Papal Household on request rather than sold, and we request them for the group. There is generally no audience in July, or on the great solemnities when the Holy Father celebrates a public Mass instead.

How far ahead should we start?

Earlier than for an ordinary pilgrimage. Most groups start eight to thirteen months out, and for a Rome event treat that as the minimum rather than the comfortable figure, because the city’s hotels and coaches go first to the groups who booked first.

How large can the group be?

From a single coach to several hundred pilgrims across many. A large group is split across coaches and hotels for the week and brought back together for the event itself.

Are these always in Rome?

No. A canonization is celebrated at the Vatican, but a beatification is normally held in the diocese the cause belongs to and may be anywhere in the world. We build those trips the same way, and we have done it in the United States.