The 27th National Eucharistic Assembly is currently being held in Matera, Italy. Pope Francis will travel to the city on September 25, the last day of the assembly, for the closing Mass for the Eucharistic Assembly.
(Vatican News Network)The 27th National Eucharist Congress, promoted by the Italian Bishops’ Conference, was held in Matera from September 22 to 25, with the theme “Back to the taste of bread: a Eucharist and a Church of fellowship”. Pope Francis will travel to Matera on the last day of the congress to preside over the closing Mass for the Eucharistic Assembly.
Giuseppe Caiazzo, Archbishop of Matera, said in an interview with this news network, “It is a great pleasure for our diocese to be able to host this Eucharistic Assembly. We started this process two years ago. This project was completely in the midst of a pandemic and people were living in extreme fear. So we needed something that would help us to start a full life again. I immediately came up with the symbol of Matera bread because in its making it included The whole theory of Trinity theology and Christology”.
Archbishop Caiazzo gave an example of how our mothers and grandmothers, when preparing to make bread, recite a prayer to the Holy Trinity, then wrap the dough in a tablecloth and leave it. The women would say that the bread “should rise well, grow well, as Jesus Christ did in the house of Nazareth.” “This bread is in the shape of a heart, and it just shows the love of God for us, and we go to meet the Lord.” The Archbishop of Matera went on to say that the dioceses of Italy are participating in the process of fellowship, and the taste of the pasta is to return to the Eucharist, that is, to put Christ at the center of the faith.
Pope Francis will arrive at the Matera Stadium on September 25 at around 8:30 am, where he will be greeted by Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, the Archbishop of Matera and the mayor. The Pope will preside over the Holy Mass there before returning to the Vatican.
Archbishop Caiazzo mentioned the time when the Pope presided over Mass for the National Eucharist in Matera. He said, “Because of the election in Italy that day, we appropriately adjusted the itinerary of the Pope’s visit and moved the mass time to 9 o’clock in order to allow the faithful time to go home to vote. Pope Francis is the second person to visit us. The city’s successor to Peter, it is a great joy for us. The first Pope to visit Matera was St. John Paul II, in 1991.” The archbishop said that despite the difficulties, Pope Francis has always shown his determination for the visit, “for which I thank him from the bottom of my heart”.
Archbishop Caiazzo concluded that there were 180 diocesan delegations and more than 100 bishops participating in this National Eucharistic Assembly.
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