The brotherhoods prepare for the Great Procession through the streets of Rome

The Jubilee of the Brotherhoods, being celebrated this weekend in Rome and the Vatican, will bring together more than one hundred thousand faithful, many of them from Spain, who will accompany the three images that represent our country: the Christ of the Atonement of Seville, better known as the Puppy ; the Virgin of Hope of Malaga; and the Sweet Name of Jesus of Nazareth of Leon. The floats will travel through the streets of Rome's historic center this Saturday in a Grand Procession , along with other devotions from Portugal, Italy, the Vatican, and France. On Sunday, they will attend the mass commemorating the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate "in their traditional attire."

The celebration is part of the Jubilee of Hope, called by Pope Francis for 2025. The events have been slightly modified as Sunday's Mass coincides with the start of the new Pope's pontificate, so the images will not preside over that celebration. The images of the Puppy of Seville and the Hope of Malaga arrived in Rome this week and, until this Friday, were on display in the Chapel of the Presentation of the Virgin in St. Peter's Basilica, where they generated enormous excitement among both local faithful and those who traveled to Rome to participate in the Jubilee of the Brotherhoods.

The most striking and eagerly awaited event is the Grand Procession on Saturday afternoon, which will bring the essence of Spanish Holy Week to the historic center of the Eternal City. The Grand Procession will begin in Piazza Celimontana at 2:00 p.m., heading toward the Colosseum, then continue around the Palatine Hill to the Circus Maximus , which it will completely encircle, and then return along the same route to its starting point.

The Cachorro and the Virgin of Hope will be preceded by other religious figures from the Catholic world. The first image will be an image of Christ Crucified, belonging to the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Sacrament of Mafra (Portugal), followed by a painting of Saint Anne, from the Vatican Archconfraternity of Saint Anne of the Palafreniers . The third image will be that of Jesus of Nazareth , from León, which stars in the well-known Procession of the Steps in the Castilian-Leonese city.

In addition, you will be able to learn about the phenomenon of the Casacce Crucifixes, typical of the Italian region of Liguria and, in particular, the city of Genoa, where during certain annual festivities , valuable, richly decorated crucifixes are paraded out onto the streets, carried in the arms of the members of the brotherhood. Two of these unique sculptures will follow the Nazarene of León in the procession.

The image of "Le Devot Christ," venerated in the French town of Perpignan, will also be present, representing the tradition of the "La Sanch" (or Blood) processions , common in this Pyrenean region. Closing this first part of the procession will be the image of Maria Addolorata, from the city of Enna, Sicily, the patron saint of her brotherhood, founded in 1875, which takes part in the procession every Good Friday.

As a culmination of this Jubilee, both the members of the brotherhoods and their companions will participate on Sunday, "in their traditional vestments," in the Mass commemorating the inauguration of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome, Pope Leo XIV , which will be celebrated in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican starting at 10 a.m. Given the election of the new pontiff, the Mass replaces the one scheduled to close the Jubilee , with the exception that the images of each brotherhood will not be present in the square, as was originally planned.