1,600 of Rome’s poor attend ‘Bernadette of Lourdes’ premiere

The musical will be available for a month for pilgrims coming to Rome during the 2025 Jubilee of Hope. / Credit: Courtesy of ACI Prensa

ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 16, 2025 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

A musical that tells the story of St. Bernadette, visionary of Our Lady of Lourdes, made its debut in Rome on Jan. 14. The premiere was reserved for a select group of guests: 1,600 people from low-income families.

The Office of the Papal Almoner, headed by Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, invited more than a thousand low-income people and refugees to enjoy the show in the large auditorium located on Via della Conciliazione, the wide avenue that leads to St. Peter’s Square.

On Tuesday afternoon, the thousands of guests presented their tickets, distributed at the soup kitchens and in the communities where they live, to enjoy this live performance that has been a success in France and that, starting Jan. 16, will be included in the official program of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope.

At the end of the musical, members of the Missionaries of Charity order founded by St. Teresa of Calcutta offered each guest a bag of food.

Krajewski emphasized in a statement to Vatican News that it is “very beautiful to think that the poor will see the premiere since, after all, “even in the Gospel” they are given priority.

Fatima Lucarini, the musical’s producer in Italy, expressed her desire to present the premiere to the poor of Rome, an initiative that she was able to share with the Holy Father during a private meeting they had Dec. 12, 2024, at the Vatican.

The musical will be available for a month for pilgrims coming to Rome during the Jubilee of Hope. The show will then be performed in other Italian cities such as Naples, Bari, and Turin. It is also expected to come to the United States and Latin America in 2026.

Premiered in France in 2019, “Bernadette of Lourdes” shows the plight and perseverance of Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old girl who experienced mystical encounters with the Virgin Mary in the grotto of Massabielle.

In that grotto, Bernadette saw a lady dressed in white who later identified herself as the Immaculate Conception.

The play is directed by the renowned Canadian stage director Serge Denoncourt and the starring role is played by the French singer Eyma.

The visionary of Our Lady of Lourdes died at the age of 35 after leaving Lourdes to join the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, France.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.