{"id":92872,"date":"2026-08-04T14:46:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T12:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/?p=92872"},"modified":"2026-08-04T14:46:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T12:46:43","slug":"are-you-an-american-catholic-in-rome-this-is-the-place-to-go-if-you-want-to-see-pope-leo-up-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/2026\/08\/04\/are-you-an-american-catholic-in-rome-this-is-the-place-to-go-if-you-want-to-see-pope-leo-up-close\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you an American Catholic in Rome? This is the place to go if you want to see Pope Leo up close"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

James O'Reilly<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This place is Casa Santa Maria, a property in the heart of Rome owned by the North American College. It is mainly a house for US priests continuing their graduate studies in Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But every Tuesday afternoon, it also serves as the Bishops\u2019 Office for <\/em>United States Visitors to the Vatican, where American pilgrims can come to gather tickets for the pope's general audience each week. <\/strong>This special office is run by the Religious Sisters of Mercy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SR. MARIE <\/strong>TH\u00c9R\u00c8SE, RSM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coordinator for the USCCB\u2019s Visitors\u2019 Office ORIG. ING<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so every Tuesday many pilgrims come to our office to receive their tickets. And when they get their ticket, it's not simply a piece of paper that we give them, but we also offer some more information about what it is that they're attending. So we offer what we call an orientation, which is first, some of the practical information.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is more than just practical information. The Sisters of Mercy also share with visitors the spiritual and religious dimension of the papal visit\u2014such as what it means to meet with the Holy Father and the graces available through his blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SR. CELESTE MARIE, RSM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assistant at the USCCB\u2019s Visitors\u2019 OfficeORIG. ING<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It's a gift for us as sisters to be in this apostolate and this work. Really to recognize the beauty it is to be here in Rome. Countless times we have pilgrims say, 'This has been a lifelong dream, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come for maybe a few days, so it's really a gift to encounter them, to recognize the beauty it is to be able to be here in Rome.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the visitors, meanwhile, have different reasons for visiting the Pope. For some, it is a family affair:<\/p>\n\n\n\n


JOHN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visitor from Maryland<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided what a year to do it because Pope Leo went to Villanova where my older sister was. And they were in the same religion class together. So she said, 'You need to go see the Pope.' I said, 'I'll let them know you said hello.'<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But others come to celebrate the biggest moments of their life, like newlyweds who would like the Sposi Novelli<\/em>, the special blessing of the Pope for recently married couples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLIN & ELIZABETH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newlyweds from the United StatesORIG. ING<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We came here on our honeymoon and we found out a couple of weeks beforehand, or maybe a couple months, that they were doing a blessing, and we figured it was something that we probably shouldn't miss. Get to see the Pope in person, get the blessing, and also shout 'Go White Sox' at him.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is estimated that 33 million visitors and pilgrims from around the world visited the Vatican in 2025. With the Jubilee Year, the death of Pope Francis, and the election of the first American Pope, the US Bishop's Office in Rome also saw record numbers of visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whether or not it is a record year, if you are visiting Rome from the United States you now know where to go if you want to see the Pope up close\u2014the US Visitors' Office at Casa Santa Maria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James O'Reilly This place is Casa Santa Maria, a property in the heart of Rome owned by the North American College. It is mainly a house for US priests continuing their graduate studies in Rome. But every Tuesday afternoon, it also serves as the Bishops\u2019 Office for United States Visitors to the Vatican, where American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":92873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/gneAjDZos6g","video_descarga":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bufficiovaticanousaeng.mp4","international_url":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bufficiovaticanousaint.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92872"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92877,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92872\/revisions\/92877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}