(27 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vatican City – 26 February 2025
1. Various of ‘Ancora’ souvenirs and religious items store
2. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Simone Ottaviani, clerk at Ancora religious items and souvenirs store: ++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS OVERLAID BY SHOT 3-4++
“No, I must say no. The sale of Pope Francis’ items continues normally, we did not have an increase. The items that we sell the most are the Jubilee’s items, branded with the Jubilee logo: souvenirs, rosaries and other items related to the Jubilee.”
3. Pope Francis’ autobiography “Hope”
4. Customers in front of popes’ calendars
5. Exteriors of ‘Ancora’ souvenirs and religious items store and saint Peter basilica
6. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Father Paolo De Luca, priest from Foggia:++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS SLIGHTLY OVERLAID BY SHOT 7++
“Among the small postcard I bought, some of them had Pope Francis portrait and the Jubilee logo on the other side.”
7. Tourists crowding a souvenirs stand
8. Various of Pope Francis photos and magnets on display at a stand in front of St. Peter’s Basilica
STORYLINE:
Wobbly-headed Pope Francis statues, rosaries in plastic boxes, and calendars with a grinning Pope Francis pack the souvenir shops and tourist stands around St. Peter’s Square, popular items for those visiting the Vatican.
As long as Pope Francis is alive there is no need to buy extra mementos with his image according to the faithful that are crowding the Vatican.
The religious souvenirs market is reflecting the understated mood of the thousands of pilgrims that are flocking to St. Peter’s Basilica for the Holy Year.
None of them are performing displays of despair or mass prayers for Pope Francis’ critical health situation, with the exception of the sober evening rosaries for the Pope that have been called for a few days now.
Pope Francis was hospitalized on February 14th for pneumonia and is still in hospital in serious condition.
Despite the insecurity over the Pontiff’s fate, the many souvenir shops surrounding the Vatican have not noticed a frenzy to buy Pope Francis postcards, calendars, books and rosaries.
The groups of pilgrims who have arrived in Rome for the Jubilee continue to shuffle past as they make their procession to the holy door, many also praying for the pope on the way, but life proceeds as normally as before the Holy Father’s hospitalisation.
Sales of sacred items with the Jubilee logo, often accompanied by a portrait of Pope Francis, were already among the top ten purchases by Catholic pilgrims before Francis’ health declined.
Many faithful just want to bring home to their beloved ones something related to the Holy Year.
The Vatican is surrounded by shops hawking souvenirs, religious items and priestly vestments.
The items on sale go from cheap industrial magnets, to expensive jewellery with Catholic symbols, and from calendars to rare liturgical books.
Last October the Italian finance police last October seized a warehouse run by a Chinese nation packed 6 million counterfeit Jubilee branded religious items: rosaries, keychains, crucifixes and ashtrays, many of the with both Pope Francis and saint Pope John Paul II effigies.
The current Holy Year, known as the “Jubilee of Hope” is an ancient church tradition held every 25 years. During a Holy Year the faithful are encouraged to make a pilgrimage to Rome and pass through the Holy Doors.
AP video by Paolo Lucariello and Isaia Montelione
Production by Paolo Santalucia
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