St Peter’s Hazel Grove Rome and Assisi

Our pilgrim way today was a day of privilege. We began by walking over the Esquiline Hill to the Basilica of Santa Prassade which had some mosaics created by Pope Paschal I in the 800's based on the Book of Revelations. Having marvelled at them, we continued to an even more beautiful church, San Alfonso. There was a tranquility and quiet splendour there - a beautiful setting for our Mass at 10am. This is the titular church of Archbishop Vincent Nichols and we felt a special affinity with our home country at the time of sadness over the death of the Holy Father. Fr Peter and Deacon John were in great voice in this magnificent acoustic leading us to sing at various parts of the Mass. The church also houses the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour - it's worth looking up the history of that icon - and we finished with the beautiful plain chant "Regina Coeli" to fill the space. From there we visited the Basilica of St Mary Major, where Pope Francis used to come and pray....

We woke at 4AM after a special weekend of Easter celebration to set out to Manchester airport in the dark. Met with a few of the group for a coffee before finding the gate. A Jet2 All Day Breakfast was well received although Chris did opt for a Chicken Dinner on the grounds that it already seemed like lunchtime 😂 Landing was a cloudless dream and then switching on our phones to the sad surprise of the death of our beloved Pope Francis. Everyone was saddened and the tone of our little assembly was framed by different hopes and prayers for our week. Suddenly the questions were bigger than the future of our parish, broadening more sharply into the future of the church and the world. Rome on arrival was bathed in beautiful Easter sunshine. A sense of being here at a significant moment in history, yet there’s a peace and a calm - a moment of resurrection to celebrate a life lived to the full in service of God and the church. Anthony, our guide, met us in the airport and once we rallied our...