Tourism Jubilee: Commerce Over Conversion in Neo-Church Ritual
The Catholic News Agency (December 16, 2025) reports on a “Jubilee of Tourism” pilgrimage in Rome, celebrating tourism workers for facilitating “religious experiences” for millions. Organized by the Associations of Qualified Tourist Guides, the event included a Mass celebrated by Italian Bishop Antonio Staglianò (president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology), a candlelit procession across the Bridge of the Angels, and passage through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. The article frames tourism as a spiritual endeavor, quoting organizers who emphasize its role in highlighting “the spiritual and religious dimensions” for pilgrims. With claims of 30 million visitors expected for the “Jubilee of Hope,” the piece reduces sacred tradition to a commercial spectacle.
Profanation of the Jubilee Concept
The very notion of a “Jubilee of Tourism” constitutes a blasphemous inversion of the Church’s penitential discipline. Quas primas (1925) defines jubilees as solemn periods for “restoring the reign of our Lord” through acts of reparation, not industry celebrations. Pius XI condemned secular intrusions into sacred time, stating: “The hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states… do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior”. Here, the jubilee is degraded into a public relations campaign for a secular profession, eclipsing the raison d’être of Holy Years: the salvation of souls through confession, penance, and conversion.
The article’s claim that tourism workers “support the faith” ignores the Church’s uncompromising teaching on the unicity of mediatory roles. St. Pius X’s Lamentabili sane (1907) condemns the modernist error that “the revelation which is the object of Catholic faith did not cease with the Apostles” (Proposition 21). By equating travel logistics with evangelization, the neo-church substitutes natural human activity for the supernatural mission of the priesthood—a heresy explicitly anathematized in the Syllabus of Errors (1864): “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Proposition 55).
Naturalization of Pilgrimage
Tour guide Elizabeth Lev’s description of the event as a “great moment of reconciliation” epitomizes the conciliar sect’s destruction of sacramental theology. Nowhere does the article mention confession, absolution, or the requisite conditions for gaining jubilee indulgences (attachment to sin being the foremost obstacle). Pius XII’s Mediator Dei (1947) warns against divorcing external rites from interior grace: “The sacred liturgy requires… the union of minds and hearts with the voice.” The candlelit procession and Holy Door crossing are reduced to aesthetic performances—a betrayal of the ex opere operato principle that guarantees grace through valid sacraments, not sentimental pageantry.
Bishop Staglianò’s involvement further exposes the ritual’s illegitimacy. As president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology (an institution reconfigured by John Paul II to promote modernist hermeneutics), he embodies the “evolution of dogmas” condemned in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907). His celebration of Mass—likely the invalid Novus Ordo rite—mocks the Sacrosanctum Concilium of Trent, which dogmatized the propitiatory nature of the Eucharist. The article’s silence on the Mass’s rubrics or doctrinal content speaks volumes: in the neo-church, liturgy exists to entertain, not to sanctify.
The Idolatry of “Religious Tourism”
Isabella Ruggiero’s boast of “30 million pilgrims” expected reveals the conciliar sect’s obsession with quantitative metrics over spiritual fruit. Contrast this with Our Lord’s warning: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). The true Church measures success in souls saved, not visitor counts—a distinction obliterated by the article’s focus on “social and economic development.” Pius IX’s Syllabus condemns such naturalism: “The Church ought to have no right to acquire and possess property” (Proposition 26). When Ruggiero states that guides teach “respect for our shared heritage,” she replaces odium peccati (hatred of sin) with UNESCO-style cultural relativism, denying the Kingship of Christ over nations.
The procession’s timing with the Vatican Christmas tree lighting completes this syncretistic farce. Bernini’s Bridge of Angels—commissioned to guide pilgrims toward St. Peter’s tomb—is repurposed as a photo-op backdrop, while the Nativity display (likely featuring modernist “art”) distracts from the Holy Door’s true significance: Christ’s mercy conditioned upon repentance. As Quas primas reminds: “Rulers and governments have the duty to publicly honor Christ,” not to partner with tour operators.
Omission of the Supernatural
Nowhere does the article mention:
– The necessity of sacramental confession for jubilee indulgences
– The state of grace required to licitly receive Communion
– The danger of sacrilege when non-Catholics approach the Eucharist
– The Four Last Things (death, judgment, Heaven, Hell)
This silence proves the event’s spiritual bankruptcy. Traditional jubilees emphasized “memento mori“; this “tourism jubilee” celebrates worldly professionalism. The Syllabus condemns such omissions: “Human reason is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood” (Proposition 3). By glorifying “those who remain behind the scenes” (hotel staff, drivers), the neo-church inverts 1 Corinthians 12’s teaching on the Mystical Body: not all members share equal dignity, and the sacramental priesthood alone mediates grace.
Conclusion: Commerce in the Temple
This spectacle exemplifies the conciliar sect’s final apostasy: reducing the Church to a NGO managing “religious experiences.” As Pius XI declared: “When God and Jesus Christ are removed from laws and states, the foundations of authority are destroyed.” The tourism jubilee completes Vatican II’s anthropocentric revolution—replacing the Una Voce of Catholic truth with the cacophony of guides, bloggers, and “experts.” Let true Catholics heed Pius X’s warning: “The modernists walk not with the Church” (Pascendi, §39). Only in the catacombs, far from these circus-like rituals, does the Faith endure.
Source:
Tourism operators celebrate religious dimension of work at jubilee pilgrimage in Rome (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 16.12.2025