Giro d’Italia will pass through the Vatican and Pope will greet participants in the world’s most important cycling event
This Vatican stage, however brief, transforms the final day of the Giro’s 108th edition into a pilgrimage on wheels
MAY 29, 2025 17:16ZENIT STAFFPOPE LEO XIV WhatsAppMessengerFacebookTwitterShare Share this Entry
(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 05.29.2025).- In a moment where sport, tradition, and faith converge, Pope Leo XIV will greet the riders of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, June 1, as they make an unprecedented detour through the heart of Vatican City. The encounter, scheduled for 3:30 p.m., marks the first time the prestigious cycling race passes within the papal walls.
Far from being a mere publicity stunt or ceremonial aside, the Vatican’s involvement with this year’s Giro speaks to a deeper vision—one that Pope Francis laid the groundwork for in 2021 with his approval of the race’s inclusion in a broader cultural and educational effort. This initiative, supported by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, the Governorate of the Vatican City State, and the amateur sports association Athletica Vaticana, has grown into a kind of prologue for the upcoming Jubilee of Sport set for mid-June.
The route within the Vatican spans about three kilometers but offers a journey through centuries of Church history, artistic beauty, and theological imagination. Cyclists will enter via the Petriano Gate, riding past the sacristy of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican railway station, the Governor’s Palace, and the rarely seen Mater Ecclesiae monastery. They’ll continue past the Lourdes Grotto and Saint John’s Tower, circle the Vatican Gardens, and follow what organizers have dubbed the “Marian route”—a winding path dotted with global depictions of the Virgin Mary, each representing a nation’s devotion.
From there, the peloton will pass the Vatican Museums and a tree-lined avenue named in honor of sports, echoing the early 20th-century races Pope Pius X promoted to encourage health and fraternity. The cyclists will then ride beneath the Sistine Chapel and alongside the apse of the basilica before exiting through the Vicolo del Perugino gate, where the race officially resumes under competitive conditions on Italian soil.
While this may seem like an innovation, the Giro and the papacy share a surprising history. Pope Pius XII welcomed Giro riders in 1946 after the devastations of World War II, encouraging their journey from Rome to Perugia. Pope Paul VI met with riders multiple times, both in the Vatican and at Castel Gandolfo. Pope John Paul II hosted cyclists during the 2000 Jubilee, while Benedict XVI and Pope Francis continued to affirm the spiritual value of sport, particularly through support for the Madonna del Ghisallo shrine—patroness of cyclists since 1949. L
This Vatican stage, however brief, transforms the final day of the Giro’s 108th edition into a pilgrimage on wheels. The setting, steeped in spiritual symbolism and natural beauty, is less about who will wear the final pink jersey and more about who we are when we ride together—not to win, but to remember, to reflect, and to hope.
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