An Increasing Number Pilgrims Made Visits to the Vatican in 2017
On December 29, 2017, the Prefecture of the Papal Household published the annual numbers of pilgrims who came to meet the Holy Father; these numbers were far higher than the year before.
The numbers published include the faithful who participated in the various meetings with the pope at the Vatican during the year: general and particular audiences, jubilee audiences, liturgical celebrations, and Marian prayers on Sundays and feast days.
A total of 3,952,140 participants were counted, with a steady increase in attendance at the recitation of the Angelus (1.6 million pilgrims). The Prefecture remarks that there was a peak in March, for Holy Week, and in September for the “canonization” of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, with over one hundred thousand participants.
These numbers only include events that took place at the Vatican.
They are higher than in 2015, when the total was 3.2 million visitors. Zenit recalls that “observers had explained the decreasing number of visitors” – that reached 5.9 million in 2014 – by invoking “the attacks perpetrated in Europe and the terrorist threats on Rome”. But some Vaticanists consider that the style of Pope Francis turns off a good number of Catholics and could also explain this decrease in fervor.
Sources: VaticanNews / Zenit / FSSPX.News
