Holy Week was intense for the first year seminarians, who stayed in Rome and lived these special days in the Eternal City. On Holy Tuesday, led by the rector Don Javier Canosa, many completed the traditional route of the seven churches, popularised by St Philip Neri and which includes the four major basilicas (St Peter's, St John Lateran, St Mary Major and St Paul Outside the Walls) and the three minor ones (Holy Cross in Jerusalem, St Lawrence and St Sebastian). It was more than twenty kilometres on foot, in a pilgrimage that included the Stations of the Cross.
The Easter Triduum was experienced by the seminarians helping in the liturgical service in various Roman churches. In some cases, there were large numbers of young people, as the ceremonies were attended by the students of the Univ, a university congress that Opus Dei members organize every year in Rome.
The magnificent culmination of these days was the liturgical service that nineteen seminarians performed in St. Peter's Square during the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis on Easter Sunday, followed by the Urbi et Orbi blessing. All were able to greet the Holy Father personally and, in this way, to unite themselves even more to his person and his intentions, among which, as was evident in the words pronounced before the blessing, an important place is occupied by his concern for peace in the world.