Enzo Fortunato

Experiencing the Jubilee

Un itinerario spirituale nella Basilica di San Pietro

1st edition November 2024
Series DIMENSIONI DELLO SPIRITO
Size 14 x 21 cm

Number of pages 144
CDU 22H 532
ISBN/EAN 9788892245594

On the occasion of the Jubilee year, Father Enzo Fortunato leads us to the discovery of St Peter's Basilica, the heart of the Christian proclamation, where it was structured as a Church and where it is lived in the memory of its origin. Each stage of this journey corresponds to a chapter of the book. From the road leading to St Peter's Square to Bernini's colonnade, a symbol of welcome and embrace; then the moment of passing through the Holy Door, the place of decision: that threshold, an allegory of conversion, which, once crossed, purifies and integrally changes those who cross it. However, this would not be possible without Grace, represented here by the Madonna holding Christ in her arms, Michelangelo's Pieta. Finally, the statue of St Peter and the apostle's tomb represent the place of the journey and the celebration. Peter also arrived in Rome from afar, after a long and arduous journey. Those who arrive at the place of his tomb recognise themselves in him and his journey. On Peter's tomb is built the basilica, the largest church in the world: it is the celebration of the glory of God and his Word. It could not fail to mention the Bull of the Jubilee, Spes non confundit, which ‘invites us to rediscover and embrace this fundamental theological virtue, which is hope, described as a regenerating force of the human soul and a sure guide in the journey of life’.

Enzo Fortunato is Friar Minore Conventuale, journalist, and writer. From 1997 to 2021 he has been the director of the Press Room of the Sacred Convent of Assisi and of the San Francesco Magazine. He has been professor at the Pontifical Antonianum University and the Theological Institute of Assisi. He collaborated with the Osservatore Romano and regularly writes for the daily newspapers Avvenire, Corriere della Sera, and La Repubblica. For Edizioni San Paolo he has written Francesco e il Sultano. 800 anni da un incredibile incontro (2019) with Piero Damosso; Il Natale di Francesco (2019); Il Natale di Maria (2020); E se tornasse davvero Gesù? (2021), Una gioia mai provata (2022), L'Enciclica dei bambini (2023)