A pilgrimage of Hopeto the Holy Lands of Europe 2025

October 2025, 42 pilgrims from Uganda undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands of Europe. This pilgrimage was organized by Hallelujah Tours and Travel Agency Ltd in conjunction with Memorare Tours and Travel Agency Ltd, and the majority of pilgrims were members of AMDA (Archdiocese of Mbarara Development Association).

The first destination was Fatima in Portugal, where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children: Lucia dos Santos, Francisco Marto, and Jacinta Marto between May and October 1917. Her request through these children was a call for prayers for world peace and sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. In Fatima we had the opportunity to celebrate Mass, visit the homes of the three children in Aljustrel and participate in the recitation of the rosary and candle light procession attended by thousands of pilgrims every night at 9 pm.

The next destination was Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

On our way to Santiago we had a number of stopovers, namely: Santuario do Someiro and the town of Braga. In the 9th century, a hermit is said to have followed a trail of stars to find the tomb of the apostle Saint James the Greater, leading to the name “Compostela” from the Latin campus stellae (“field of stars”). The remains of St. James were brought to this area after his martyrdom. Today they are buried beneath the main altar of the cathedral. In Santiago, we celebrated Mass in the church of St. Maria Salome (the mother of James). Santiago de Compostela attracts thousands of pilgrims who undertake the camino (the walk). The Camino de Santiago is a network of ancient paths leading to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Many pilgrims undertake this pilgrimage on foot, some spending several weeks on the way. Pilgrims are motivated by faith and the desire to have a transformative experience.

The third pilgrimage took us to Lourdes in France.

We had stopovers in Leon and Burgos in Spain. The pilgrimage to Lourdes originates from the

“42 pilgrims from Uganda undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands of Europe.”

18 apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a young14-year-old peasant girl Saint Bernadette Soubirous, between February 11th and July 16th 1858. The Blessed Mother identified herself as “the Immaculate Conception” and called for prayers and penance for sinners. She instructed Bernadette to dig into the ground where a spring of water came up, which is renowned for its healing properties and miracles. We had the opportunity to wash ourselves in this water and we carried some of it with us. In Lourdes we celebrated Masses in the chapel of St. Gabriel, we undertook the Way of the Cross and prayed the rosary every night with a candle light procession attended by thousands of pilgrims.

From Lourdes we flew to Paris city where we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral which was recently reopened after major repairs on it following a fire that destroyed it in 2019. Due to many pilgrims we were unable to enter it but we were mesmerized by the beauty of it outside and the great work done to restore it to its past glory. We then proceeded to celebrate Mass in the Chapel of Our Lady of Graces of the Miraculous Medal where the body of St. Catherine Laboure lies incorrupt. She is remembered for her encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary where she was shown the design of the miraculous medal and was asked to ensure its production. From Paris, we flew to Rome.

In Rome, we visited the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four Major Basilicas of Rome (others are: St. Peters, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul outside the walls) built between 432 and 440. Its construction was a result of a dream by Pope Liberius and a patrician named John to build a church where snow would appear on the Esquiline Hill; this would take place on 5th August in the hot season of summer. It is renowned for housing the first inanimate nativity crib in history and for being a place for papal ceremonies and papal burial. We had the privilege and honour of passing through the Holy Door, viewing the tomb of Pope Francis and celebrating the Eucharist in one of the Basilica chapels. In the evening we visited the Vatican Museum, a vast complex of public museums in Vatican City, viewing the immense art, archaeological, and ethno-anthropological collections preserved by the Catholic Church and popes over centuries. The most spectacular view was the Sistine Chapel, with the famous and magnificent frescoes of Michelangelo. The Sistine chapel is where the conclave is held to elect a new pope. The Vatican Museum was established in 1503 by Pope Julius II and today the collections include 70,000 works, with 20,000 on display across more than 1,400 rooms.

On Wednesday October 15th, we attended the Papal audience in St. Peter’s Square, having the honour of meeting Pope Leo XIV. Later in the afternoon we celebrated Mass in the San Michele e Magno church in Borgo Santo Spirito. Due to the large crowds, we were unable to enter the St. Peter’s Basilica. Saint Peter’s Basilica is a magnificent church in Vatican City, considered one of the holiest sites in Catholicism because it is built over the tomb of Saint Peter. The first church was built around 315 AD by Emperor Constantine over what was believed to be the burial site of Saint Peter on Vatican Hill. This church lasted over a thousand years. Pope Julius II ordered the construction of the current Basilica in 1506 and it was completed in 1626.

On the 16th of October, we set off for the ancient town of Lanciano known for the Eucharistic miracle which took place in the 8th century. While celebrating Mass, a Basilian monk doubted the real presence of Christ in the sacred species of bread and wine as his body and blood. After consecration, he noticed that the host had turned into real human flesh and the wine had turned into real human blood. These have been preserved in a monstrance above the tabernacle. We saw these species. The miracle continues to subsist in that these elements have remained in their natural state without decay for more than 1200 years. In the 1970s and 1980s the species were examined and the flesh was found to be part of a human heart and the blood to be of type AB. From Lanciano we proceeded to San Giovanni Rotondo, the place of Padre Pio.

“To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself.”

San Giovanni Rotondo is a town in Southern Italy where Saint Padre Pio spent much of his life and exercised his ministry. We visited the sanctuary and paid homage to the body of Padre Pio lying in the crypt. Padre Pio was a Franciscan Friar of the Capuchin order who dedicated much of his life to listening to confessions and preaching. Padre Pio had the special gift of reading souls and could tell the penitents any sins they didn’t mention during confession. Some miraculous healings were also attributed to him. He also had a gift of bilocation where he was said to be in two places doing different things at the same time. In 1918 he received the stigmata (wounds of Jesus) and lived with them till the moment of death; the skin was found intact without any scars or signs of having had wounds.

Padre Pio founded a hospital called the Home for the Relief of Suffering. He died in 1968 and was canonized in 2002.

The last leg of our pilgrimage was to Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis, founder of the Franciscan order, and Saint Clare, who inspired the founding of the Poor Clares. It is now also the resting place of the relics of the Millennial saint Carlo Acutis. St. Carlo Acutis had a deep love for Jesus and the Eucharist. He attended Mass every day and received Holy Communion daily since the age of seven. He had a passion for computer and he used his skills to create a website where he compiled the known Eucharistic miracles from all over the world. He was beatified in 2020 and canonized in 2024, becoming the first millennial saint. We had the honour to view and venerate his incorrupt body placed in a glass tomb, where he lies dressed in jeans, jacket and Nike sneakers. Due to limited time we were unable to visit the Basilica of St. Francis but we visited the Church of St. Clare.

Our visit to Assisi marked the end of our pilgrimage to Europe. We embarked on our journey back to Uganda on Saturday 18th October.

A pilgrimage is a journey undertaken in search of spiritual renewal or nourishment. It is a journey intended to lead to a personal transformation. Many religions attach spiritual importance to particular places: the place of birth or death of founders or saints, or to the place of their “calling” (marriage, religious life, priesthood) or place of spiritual awakening (place of conversion), or of their connection (visual or verbal) with the divine, to locations where miracles were performed or witnessed, or locations where a deity is said to live or be “housed”, or any site that is seen to have special spiritual powers. To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself, where his grace has shone with particular splendour and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe. Our pilgrimage to the Holy Places of Europe was a rich source of inspiration and strengthening of our faith. I was personally touched by a large number of young people and people of various races and languages. The evening rosary was a wonderful moment of prayer.

We pray and wish that many more people can get the ways and means to undertake a pilgrimage to Holy Places.