Medjugorje Pilgrimage & Rome Pilgrimage Tour

Depart your hometown for your overnight flight(s) to Rome. Dinner and breakfast will be served on board.

Upon arrival at Rome Airport, you will find your luggage and exit the baggage claim into the arrivals hall where you will be greeted by your tour guide and/or driver. After a warm welcome to Italy, you will be escorted to your transportation to your hotel. Enjoy a free afternoon for rest, relaxation, or exploration. Your tour guide can suggest sights or walks for you to enjoy. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

Papal Audiences are scheduled only on Wednesdays and are subject to the Pope’s health and schedule.
Today is a day that will live in our hearts for many years to come. Make your way to Vatican City where you will attend the Papal Audience given by His Holiness Pope Francis I, pending the papal schedule. Following the audience you will take a tour of the Vatican Museums, an astonishing series of galleries that contain the most impressive spiritual and art treasures. You will see awe-inspiring relics and works of art donated throughout centuries as tributes of faith. You will visit the Tapestry Gallery, the Raphael Rooms, and the breathtaking Sistine Chapel where we will see Michelangelo’s masterpiece the Last Judgment. Visit St. Peter’s Basilica, built on the site where St. Peter was martyred. St. Peter’s is unsurpassed in beauty; a monument to the long history of the Catholic Church, to which pilgrims from around the world flock. You will have time to marvel at the Pieta and Bernini’s amazing bronze canopy. Also, visit the tomb of Pope Saint John Paul II – a very popular holy site at the Vatican. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

This morning awake in the Eternal City! After breakfast depart on your sightseeing tour which will offer insight into the most significant Catholic sites in Rome. You will see the Basilica of St. Mary Major, one of the oldest shrines dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, which contains a relic from the manger of the infant Jesus. You will visit the Holy Stairs and visit the Basilica of St. John the Lateran, which was the residence of the popes before returning to Rome in 1377. Also explore the Major Basilica St. Paul Outside the Walls, which houses the remains of Saint Paul under its main altar. We will see the Appian Way, the oldest road from Roman times, as well as the famous Domino Quo Vadis Chapel, the ancient Baths of Caracalla, the Arch of Drusus, and the Tomb of Cecilia Metella. Visit one of the catacombs, of St. Callixtus, where the early Christians hid themselves to escape persecution for their devout faith. Time permitting you will visit the Trevi Fountain to participate in the tradition of throwing 3 coins into the fountain in hopes of returning to Rome. Dinner and overnight in Rome.

After a leisurely morning, we depart for Rome Airport for your short flight to Croatia. Upon arrival, you will find your luggage and exit the baggage claim into the arrivals hall where you will be greeted by a tour guide and/or driver. You will be escorted to the private motorcoach which will then take you on the 2 1/2-hour drive to the village of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Dinner and overnight in Medjugorje. 

Over the next three days, you will experience the beauty and peace of the simple village of Medjugorje. During your stay, you will have the opportunity to share your faith with pilgrims from all over the world. Our local guide will accompany you to help you understand the history and layout of the village. Our guide will arrange meetings with the visionaries at their own homes, provided that they are in Medjugorje during your trip and pending their availability. 

Here are some of the activities you will have the opportunity to experience:
Each morning at 10:00 am we assemble at St. James Church for the English language Mass (On feast days and Sundays English Mass is at noon). Follow the path up Apparition Hill where the visionaries first encountered Our Lady. Touch and pray before the cross that commemorates the spot where Mary first appeared to the visionaries. Visit and pray at “The Blue Cross,” which is a place of great healing and graces, at the base of Apparition Hill. Each evening at 5:00 pm (6:00 pm daylight savings time) we will join the villagers and pilgrims to pray the rosary. The apparition takes place at 5:40 pm (6:40 pm during daylight savings time) followed by the Croatian Mass, where there is the Blessing of the Sick and Blessing of Religious articles. You will have the opportunity to climb Krizevac Mountain where in 1933 the villagers built a 30′ high cross on the anniversary of Jesus’ crucifixion.

After an early breakfast and heartfelt farewells, we leave by motorcoach for Dubrovnik or Split for return flights home.