Dozens of CLU (Communion and Liberation University) students travelled to Italy as pilgrims of hope to participate in the Holy Year Jubilee. In addition to Rome, the pilgrimage included stops in Milan, Modena, Assisi, and Turin.

Meeting CLU friends from all over the country and in Milan and Rome on the pilgrimage — all of whom are sharing the same journeys and in so many ways the same experiences as my own community — assured me in a new way of the concrete reality of Christianity. It makes no sense that we are all following this same thing, that we all share the same desire, if it does not come from something more and something true. This awareness has made it easier to come home, where I am not always sharing my life with these friends. This companionship is a unity that goes beyond my human capacity for friendship, and so I can be certain of it in a new way.
–Catalina, Washington, DC

This pilgrimage was a new beginning for me. Being in Rome for the Jubilee and attending the audience with the Pope, along with walking through the Holy Doors and visiting countless amazing churches, truly highlighted the incredible beauty of life. Additionally, the hospitality and friendship of the CLU students in Italy, along with visiting numerous tombs of saints – especially the tombs of Fr. Luigi Giussani, Enzo Piccinini, Pier Giorgio Frassati, and Carlo Acutis – and hearing friends share how these deceased have influenced their lives in a real way, even years after their deaths, profoundly showed me that it is possible to embrace this amazing beauty in our daily, sometimes monotonous lives, just as the saints did.
–Anton Parker, Maryland

During my time with the CLU students of Milan, the passion with which they live every day with each other was evident to me; they had a joy about them that came from their friendship. The students’ love for their city, each other, and their studies was shown to us in how they accompanied us throughout our day in Milan. While in Milan, we were always met by new CLU friends as they brought us into their city, taking us to the Duomo di Milano, the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, their university, Cattolica, and the tomb of Fr. Giussani, then ending the day with dinner and a singing night. They were in the middle of exam season and had so much going on, but you wouldn’t have known they were stressed by how they welcomed us as if we were old friends.
–Ciara, Virginia

Entering through the Holy Doors at St. Peters’ Basilica was the most incredible experience of my life. Never had Christ’s mercy been so evident and so abundant. To kiss the feet of Christ on the door and be welcomed by the loving gaze of His mother toward her Son in the Pietà statue made me certain of the intercession of our Blessed Mother for the salvation of my soul.
– Blake, Washington