For the first time, the Band of the Gendarmerie Corps and the Band of the Pontifical Swiss Guard will perform together. The wind and percussion ensemble will take place in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo on Monday, September 29, at 8:00 p.m., on the feast of the Patron Saint of Vatican City State, Saint Michael the Archangel.
On Saturday evening, August 30, a procession of boats lit with hundreds of candles and adorned with countless flowers glided across the waters of Lake Castel Gandolfo (Albano). This evocative scene was part of the traditional nighttime procession on the lake in honor of the Virgin Mary, which since 1954 has drawn many faithful.
In the heart of Albano, within the historic and faith-filled walls of the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Rotonda, a day rich in spirituality, sharing, and closeness to the most vulnerable unfolded. On Sunday morning, August 17, Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Eucharist together with people assisted by the local Caritas and its volunteers, transforming the city’s historic center into a lively place of encounter and fraternity.
“When in this life we ‘choose life’ (cf. Dt 30:19), then in Mary, assumed into Heaven, we have reason to see our destiny. She is given to us as the sign that the Resurrection of Jesus was not an isolated event, an exception. All of us, in Christ, can swallow up death (cf. 1 Cor 15:54).” Thus spoke Pope Leo XIV during the concelebrated Eucharist in the Pontifical Parish of St. Thomas of Villanova (Castel Gandolfo) on Friday morning, August 15, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A calling that becomes contagious—that of Saint Clare of Assisi—when, in San Damiano, even her mother Ortolana and her sister Beatrice embraced the same form of life. This is confirmation that it was not an isolated choice but rather “a calling that even today sets us on the journey, if we listen to it—a calling that provokes processes of inner transformation”. Thus spoke the Bishop of Albano, Monsignor Vincenzo Viva, as he presided over the concelebrated Eucharist on the feast of Saint Clare of Assisi, Monday afternoon, August 11, at the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception of the Poor Clares, located within the territory of the Pontifical Villas. The latter are administered by the Governorate of Vatican City State.