Rome

Rome and Catholicism

Rome is known as the center of global Catholicism. No other city in the world has a higher number of Catholic churches or institutions than the capital of Italy: more than 330 parishes, 1,700 diocesan clergies (with more than 3,500 members of religious orders), 50 new churches built just for the Jubilee 2000 celebrations, a cardinal who is the general vicar of the pope, and seven auxiliary bishops. It hosts pontifical academies, biblical and theological research institutes, a solid structure of charitable and immigrant services, the headquarters of dozens of male and female religious orders, congregations and ecclesiastical movements, and many of the most important sacred works of art in Christendom.

Every year, millions of pilgrims arrive from all over the world. According to tradition, the martyrdom of Peter occurred in the Circus of Nero between 64 and 67 CE. His tomb became a place of pilgrimage for the early Christians. The emperor Constantine built the first basilica over the tomb, a huge building completed in 349 CE. The basilica felt into ruin with the passing of time, and it was rebuilt many times by the greatest architects of the Roman Renaissance and Baroque periods. The church today contains 45 altars and 11 chapels embellished with innumerable works of art, among which the “Pietà” of Michelangelo stands out. Under the basilica lie the tombs of many popes. Bernini's square (1656–1667), consisting of a great elliptical arcade with 284 columns and 88 pillars in travertine was designed to express the symbolic value of the square as “Christianity's port.” The right-hand door of Saint Peter's Basilica only opens during the Holy Years (it is usually walled), symbolizing the passage from sin to grace.