0723UA6 - Medjugorje and Italy Pilgrimage 9 days from Washington DC or Savannah

Today, we depart from our airports to connect with our overnight flight to Europe. We will be served complimentary beverages, in-flight movies, dinner and breakfast aloft.

This morning we arrive in Europe where we board our flight to Croatia or Bosnia where we will be met by our guide and transferred to Medjugorje. Our tour manager will bring us to where we will celebrate our Mass. If we arrive in time, we will join a prayer program in Medjugorje after dinner. Afterwards, overnight in our hotel.

After breakfast, Holy Mass for English speaking pilgrims is at 10.00 a.m. in the church of St. James. Depending upon schedules and if possible, our local guide will introduce us to the Medjugorje Visionaries who will share a talk with us and often be open for a time of questions and answers. We will have the opportunity to climb Apparition Hill (Podbrdo—15 to 30 minutes) where Our Blessed Mother first appeared to the children. We will pray the Rosary as we make our way up the hill. After lunch on our own, those who wish can make the more difficult climb up Cross Mountain (Krizevac—60 to 90 minutes). In the evening, we eat dinner at the hotel before we close our evening with a prayer program in the church. Overnight at our hotel.

Following Sunday Mass in Medjugorje, we depart over the mountains and cross the border to Croatia. We will stop in Makarska, center of the vacation area on the beautiful Croatian coast and have free time for lunch on the promenade overlooking an idyllic bay. We will continue along the spectacular Magistrale coast road to Split where we will enjoy a short sightseeing tour including the 3rd century Diocletian Palace and Cathedral, formerly the Mausoleum of the Emperor Diocletian. We will have dinner near the port before boarding our overnight ferry to Ancona in Italy.

This morning, we arrive in Ancona where we will be met and transfer to Assisi. Our first stop will be in the lower town for a visit to the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, and the Portiuncula, Francis' Church of the Little Portion. We will celebrate Mass here. In the village, we begin our walking tour at the Basilica of St. Francesco with a visit to St. Francis Tomb. We eat lunch on our own and soak in the atmosphere of this Medieval city. Afterwards, we visit at the resting place of newly beatified St. Carlo Acutis who was 15-years old when he died in 2006 from leukemia. St. Carlo is sometimes called the “Cyber Apostle of the Eucharist” because he created a website to document Eucharistic Miracles and Marian Apparitions. Acutis' tomb is located in Assisi's Sanctuary of the Renunciation, the spot where a young St. Francis of Assisi cast off his rich clothes in favor of a poor habit. The remainder of the afternoon is free for prayer, rest and enjoying of this enchantingly holy town. Dinner and overnight at our hotel.

This morning, we visit the Church of St. Clare to view the crucifix that spoke to St. Francis telling him to “rebuild my Church”. We celebrate our Mass here before we depart Assisi to travel south to the Eternal City, Rome. This afternoon, we will tour her sites, including the Roman Forum passing the Arch of Constantine, the Coliseum and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. After enjoying lunch on our own on the streets of Rome, we will visit St. Paul Outside the Walls where St. Paul is buried. We will also see the chains that held him when he was beheaded. Finally, we make our way to St. Mary Major, the largest church dedicated to the Blessed Mother. Here we will encounter a piece of Christ’s manger, the relics of St. Matthew and a painting of the Virgin Mary attributed to St. Luke, the author of the third gospel. Dinner and overnight at hotel.

This morning, we will make our way to St. Peter's for the Audience of Pope Leo XIV, if he is in residence. Lunch on our own. We return to the Vatican to see the treasures of the Vatican Museum including Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. We close our day with Mass at St. John Lateran Basilica (if available, if not Mass will be at another local church) which served as Pope’s home church until the 14th Century when it switched to St. Peter’s Basilica. Dinner and overnight at our hotel.

Following our morning Mass at a chapel in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica, our day will be free to explore the Eternal City. We will have the night free to take advantage of the world-famous Roman cuisine for dinner on our own. Overnight in our hotel.

We transfer to the airport for our return flight to the U.S with unforgettable memories to cherish always.