(ANS - Turin) – The Pope has a heavy schedule for his forthcoming trip to Turin (21-22 June). There will be opportunities for him to meet people from all the social sectors of the city - the world of work, young people, religious, prisoners, migrants, the sick, Christians of other confessions ...  and of course time dedicated to the two main reasons for the visit: veneration of the Shroud and homage to Don Bosco, in the year of the bicentenary of his birth.

For the Salesian Family the most interesting event of the papal visit will be the meeting with the Pope in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday 21 June.The Holy Father will arrive from the Shrine of the Consolata at 3.00 p.m. and will go to the altar of Don Bosco for a moment of personal prayer.

After a song by the assembly there will be a prayer to Jesus in the Eucharist, followed by the Ave Maria sung by a tenor. Then the Rector Major and Tenth Successor of Don Bosco, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, will officially welcome the Pope and will give him a gift.

The Holy Father will then speak and will conclude his address with the blessing of Mary Help of Christians. Leaving the basilica, the Pope will greet the young leaders of the Salesian and Diocesan Oratories, representatives of the Forum of Italian Oratories and many volunteers, employees, members of the Salesian Family and friends of Don Bosco. The programme will end around 4.00 p.m. (Italian time).

However the whole trip will touch the Salesian world closely - it could not be otherwise, in Turin, in the Bicentenary Year. On Sunday 21 June, the Pope will have lunch with the inmates of the Ferrante Aporti juvenile prison. Since it opened in 1845, almost all its chaplains have been Salesians. The present chaplain is Fr Domenico Ricca, SDB.

In the afternoon, after a stop at the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians and another at the church of Cottolengo, the Pope will travel to Piazza Vittorio for a meeting with the young people from the oratories participating in a gathering called ’“Happening degli Oratori e dei giovani” (sic). It is organized jointly by the Diocesan and Salesian Youth Ministry teams. This is a "mini-World Youth Day" designed to lead young people to the discovery of one of the characteristics of the Salesian charism, a passion for education. It is being organized to coincide with the papal visit (June 19-20-21).

Published 16/06/2015