Tuesday January 14, at the Auditorium della Conciliazione in Rome, 1,600 people were able to attend the preview of the musical Bernadette of Lourdesthe first show of Jubilee 2025 which will be performed from January 16. The audience was then made up of destitute people (poor families, refugees, etc.) taken care of by “the pope’s charitable network” as well as volunteers involved with them, reveals the Italian press agency Ansa.
This project was born at the initiative of Fatima Lucarini – responsible for the production of the musical in Italy – who wanted to be able to “to offer a spectacle to the poor of Rome”as reported by Vatican News. «It’s a gospel momentbecause today, the last are first”underlined on this occasion Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, apostolic chaplain, quoted by the Italian agency. The project was presented to the Pope on December 12.
“An important moment of the Jubilee”
Included in the official program this Jubilee Year on the theme “Pilgrims of Hope”, the musical will be performed for a month, starting January 16, still at the Auditorium della Conciliazione. “For us, it’s the real first”insisted with the Ansa Fatima Lucarini. For Cardinal Krajewski, it is a “important moment of the Jubilee. (L’)Bernadette’s story gives hope, it shows us what happens when we respond to the word of God ».
Presented for the first time in Lourdes in 2019, the musical Bernadette of Lourdesco-produced by Roberto Ciurleo and Éléonore de Galard, traces the life of Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) starting from the apparitions in 1858. By striving to remain faithful to the story of the saint, the show, which is based on historical documents, met with great success in France – to the point of even being given to the Palais des Sports in Paris. Since its launch, it has reportedly been viewed “by nearly 400,000 people”said Roberto Ciurleo to the regional newspaper The Dispatch.
In France, already 400,000 views
A success certainly also linked to the choice of producers to surround themselves with recognized professionals. Among them, the director Serge Denoncourt or the authors Lionel Florence and Patrice Guirao, already at the origin of the lyrics of the songs of successful musicals like The Ten Commandments, The Sun King or The Three Musketeers.
“Even for non-believers, (Bernadette Soubirous) is a significant female figure in French history. She’s a Joan of Arc without armor.”underlined in 2019 the director Serge Denoncourt, in the columns of The Cross.
Other performances of the musical will take place in the Italian peninsula: March 8 at the Teatro Palapartenope in Naples; March 15 and 16 at the Teatro Team in Bari; and March 28, 29 and 30 at the Teatro Alfieri in Turin. In 2026, elements of the troop are expected across the Atlantic, in the United States, Canada and Latin America.
