The initiative, promoted by the coadjutor archpriest of Santa Maria Maggiore, Card. Rolandas Makrickas, also involved the Roman Salesian Family, led by the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Fabio Attard, who on the evening of Friday, 2 May 2025, led the entire evening Vespers Rosary, leading the prayer and the accompanying meditations.
The celebration was attended by Salesians from Salesian Headquarters and the community of the Sacred Heart of Jesus parish, not far from the basilica, together with several Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. In the front row next to Fr Attard were Cardinal Makrickas himself and Bishop Benoni Ambarus, Auxiliary Bishop of the diocese of Rome.
The immediate positive response of the Salesian Family to the invitation to lead this evening of prayer, and even more so the leadership of the Rector Major at the evening Rosary, were two tangible signs of how much the Salesian world always keeps Marian devotion at the centre of its charism, as well as of how widespread and strong is the affection and gratitude of the Sons and Daughters of Don Bosco towards Pope Francis and his magisterium.
Another significant sign of the initiative of these Rosaries is also the participation in the moments of prayer of many poor and marginalised people, those dearest to the late pontiff, as well as the workers and volunteers who care for them. Also present at the evening led by the Salesian Family were members of the Polo Civico dell’Esquilino, Sister Adriana Domenici, a consecrated woman who lives among those who have no home or live in occupied facilities, and Fr Mattia Ferrari, chaplain of ‘Mediterranea Saving Humans’, a humanitarian organisation that has been rescuing people venturing out to sea since 2018.
On the following day, Saturday 3 May, the homage to Mary and the remembrance of the Argentine Pontiff was offered by the company of the Osservatore di Strada - the monthly magazine of the Osservatore Romano, strongly supported by Pope Francis, which stands out as a ‘newspaper of the poor, for the poor, with the poor’. On this occasion, vulnerable people, volunteers and religious gathered in the square in front of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major to pray together and pay homage to the Bishop of Rome, who offered many works of charity to the poor: from dormitories to showers, from the barber shop to the clinic under the Colonnade of St Peter's, and who gave them the opportunity to write their own story in the Holy See’s newspaper and to offer a new look at reality.
https://www.infoans.org/en/sections/news/item/24198-italy-a-salesian-homage-to-our-lady-and-pope-francis-prayers-and-rosaries-at-saint-mary-major-s#sigProIdaf3e49cf62
