Join Bishop Joseph Kizito on a pilgrimage to Italy and the Holy Land.
03 – 14 September 2023
The pilgrimage will start in Rome where you will visit the 4 major Basilicas. You will also visit the beautiful famous squares and fountains in Rome. Papal Audience will be a highlight in Rome. An overnight in Assisi will teach you all about St. Francis and St. Clare.
You will now head off to the Holy Land (Israel and Palestine). There are so many beautiful places to visit. Nazareth, Mt Tabor, Sea of Galilee, Mt Temptation, Dead Sea. Jericho, Ein Karem, Bethlehem, Church of Nativity, Mt Olives, Pater Noster, Getsemane and many more.
R46 995.00 pp/s based on 25 persons
Subject to change
Services Included
Services Excluded
Tour Itinerary
Day 1: JOHANNESBURG SUN, 03 SEP 2023
Meet at O.R. Tambo International Airport at the Turkish Airways check in counter for your flight to Rome. Please ensure that you arrive at the airport at least 3 hours prior to departure.
Day 2: ROME MON, 04 SEP 2023
Arrive in Rome, proceed through customs, collect your luggage and exit the terminal. Meet your assistant and transfer to your accommodation for check-in and celebrate private Mass.
Dinner and overnight in Rome
Day 3: VATICAN, BASILICAS, CLASSIC ROME TUE, 05 SEP 2023
After breakfast, transfer to the Vatican for a tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine chapel. The visit will end in St. Peter’s Basilica, containing the tombs of the popes St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II. There is a possibility of visiting the Vatican grottos where the tombs of ancient Popes are kept. In the afternoon, continue to Saint Paul Outside the Walls, situated on the road that led to Ostia and built over the burial place of Paul the Apostle. Thereafter, visit St. John Lateran, the seat of the papal throne, the oldest and the first in the established order of the papal basilicas and St. Mary Major, the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Enjoy a guided visit of central Rome, with its famous squares and fountains. End the day with a panoramic tour before returning to your accommodation.
Dinner and overnight in Rome
Day 4: PAPAL AUDIENCE, ANCIENT ROME WED, 06 SEP 2023
After breakfast, depart to the Vatican to attend the Papal audience, joining pilgrims from all over the world. (Subject to confirmation). In the afternoon, visit ancient Rome, with the excavated ruins of the Roman Forum, political, military and social centre of the whole Roman Empire. You will then admire the Temple of Vesta, the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Constantine. The tour will continue with an outer visit of the massive structure of the Colosseum, the greatest amphitheatre of the city, built by Emperor Vespasian in 72 A.D.
Dinner and overnight in Rome
Day 5: ASSISI THU, 07 SEP 2023
After breakfast, check out of your accommodation and depart to Assisi. Arrive in Assisi and meet the guide for a guided tour of the tomb of St. Francis in the Basilica dedicated to the Saint in Assisi. Explore the quaint hilltop birthplace of St. Francis that still retains something of the atmosphere of the early 1200s, the period when the Saint began his ministry. Contained within the huge 13th-century Basilica are many of the Saint’s possessions as well as a series of frescoes by Giotto depicting his life. Head to the Basilica of St. Clare to view the Saint’s incorrupt body. The foundress of the Order of Poor Clares followed the teachings of St. Francis by living a life of poverty and humility.
Dinner and overnight in Assisi
Day 6: ROME, TEL AVIV, HAIFA, NAZARETH FRI, 08 SEP 2023
After breakfast, check out of your accommodation and celebrate Mass thereafter depart to Rome. Arrive in Rome and check into your flight to Israel via Istanbul. Arrive in Tel Aviv at 16h05, proceed through customs, collect your luggage and exit the terminal. Meet your guide and depart heading towards Haifa through the Carmel Mountains. visit the Carmelite Monastery Stella Maris and Muhraqa located on the spot where Elijah confronted the false priests of Ba’al (1 Kings 18:17-40). proceed Cana the site of the First Miracle, we will visit the Franciscan chapel for a renewal of wedding vows. Continue to the Basilica of Annunciation in Nazareth where we will celebrate Mass and visit Mary’s Well and the Church of the Angel Gabriel, Arrive in Nazareth and check in to your accommodation.
Dinner and overnight in Nazareth
Day 7: MT TABOR SEA OF GALILEE, TABGHA SAT, 09 SEP 2023
After breakfast, to Mount Tabor, the site of the Transfiguration (Math. 17:1-8) and ascend with a smaller motor vehicle due to the narrow route. Head back to Nazareth for a tour of the Basilica of Annunciation thereafter return to your accommodation. Enjoy a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee, stop on the shore of Capernaum where Peter lived and where Jesus began his public ministry (Math. 4:13). There He began teaching in the Synagogue, healed a man who had the spirit of an unclean devil and healed a fever in Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. (Luke 4:31-41). , followed by a visit to the Mount of the Beatitudes to gain a panoramic vista of the Sea of Galilee where one of Jesus’ famous teaching episodes, Sermon on the Mount, was given (Matthew 5-7). Head to Tabgha, the fruitful garden, where Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish (Mark 6:30-46). See the magnificent mosaic commemorating the miracle of the multiplication and later head to the nearby Chapel of St. Peter Primacy. There will be an unforgettable Mass near the shores of the Sea of Galilee at the Primacy
Dinner and overnight in Nazareth
Day 8: MT TEMPTATION, DEAD SEA, JERICHO, BETHANY SUN, 10 SEP 2023
After breakfast, meet the guide and depart to Mt. Temptation. On the way, stop at the Sycamore Tree which it is believed that Zacchaeus had climbed up as he wanted to catch a glimpse of this wonderful Savior. Stop to view Mt. Temptation where Jesus spent forty days and forty nights fasting and meditating during the temptation of Satan. Head to the Dead Sea for a swim, or rather a float, in the mineral rich waters. Visit Qumran, where the Original Bible Scroll was found and then drive to Jericho, the most ancient city in the world. End the day with a visit to Bethany where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, hometown of Martha and Mary. Visit Lazarus’ tomb and celebrate Mass in the Church of St. Lazarus.
Dinner and overnight in Bethlehem
Day 9: EIN KAREM, CHURCH OF VISITATION, SHEPHERD’S FIELDS MON, 11 SEP 2023
After breakfast, head to the hill country, to the city of Ein Karem, the birthplace of St John the Baptist and visit the Church of Visitation where the Blessed Virgin Mary visited the home of Zachariah and Elizabeth and proclaimed the ‘Magnificat’. Drive to the Shepherd’s Fields where the angels announced the birth of Jesus, in the afternoon. Then visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, kneel in the Grotto the birth place of our Redeemer and celebrate Mass.
Dinner and overnight in Bethlehem
Day 10: MT OLIVES, PATERNOSTER, GETHSEMANE TUE, 12 SEP 2023
After breakfast, start your day in Jerusalem at the Mount of Olives, from which Jesus ascended to heaven after His resurrection. See history through a majestic view over Jerusalem. Visit the Convent of Pater Noster where the Lord’s Prayer is displayed in 110 languages and the Ascension from where ascended to Heaven. Walk down the “Palm Sunday route” stopping at Dominus Flevit, where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Visit Gethsemane, the Rock of Agony where Jesus prayed His last prayer before his arrest, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me”. Celebrate Mass in Gethsemane in the Basilica and then visit the cave of betrayal as well as the cave of Assumption of Mary to Heaven. End the day at St. Peter in Gallicantu where Peter denied Him thrice.
Dinner and overnight in Bethlehem
Day 11: TEL AVIV, JOHANNESBURG WED, 13 SEP 2023
After breakfast, check out of your accommodation, meet the guide and transfer to Tel Aviv for your flight to South Africa via Istanbul. Arrive in Istanbul and check in to your flight to Johannesburg.
Dinner and overnight on board your flight
Day 12: JOHANNESBURG THU, 14 SEP 2023
Arrive in Johannesburg at O.R. Tambo International Airport.
