(LifeSiteNews) — Last week, nearly 8,000 Catholics from 44 countries joined the 680 clergy and religious of the traditional Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) on its pilgrimage to Rome on the occasion of the Jubilee Year 2025. On three different days, August 19-21, the pilgrims entered the Holy Doors of first the Basilica of St. Mary Major, then St. John Lateran Basilica, and finally St. Peter’s Basilica.

While the Society was not able to celebrate Mass at any of these major churches in Rome together with all the pilgrims, they were officially mentioned by the Vatican in the calendar of the Jubilee Year (even though it was later again removed), and seating was provided for them in these different churches.

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At St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday, August 21, the pilgrims, headed by Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani and the two bishops of the SSPX, Bishop Bernard Fellay and Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, were able to fill the middle aisle of the basilica and remain there for two hours, sing the Creed, a Te Deum, as well as numerous beautiful Gregorian chants. “Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat,” a chant insisting upon the Kingship of Christ, was heard throughout St. Peter’s.

As one participating pilgrim told LifeSite afterwards, “the basilica was filled with traditional chants, for which this church was made.” There was “no modern talk of human dignity and the cult of man, but instead simply the praise of God,” he added.

Priests of the SSPX told LifeSite that they were thrilled and joyful about the possibility to pray and sing at St. Peter’s together with all their confreres and faithful.

The microphone system of St. Peter’s was provided for the SSPX while they were at the basilica, and a group of cantors was able to use it to accompany the faithful leaving the church until the end with beautiful Latin hymns.

The pilgrims had processed on that day from the Castle of St. Michael the Archangel on the Via della Conciliazione over to St. Peter’s, filling the streets with thousands of chanting Catholics. The procession lasted for hours, in the heat of the August sun of Rome, due to the huge number of participants. The entire procession and visit to St. Peter’s in sum lasted at least five hours. Families with children bravely faced the heat and hours of standing, since the passage into St. Peter’s was slowed down by security checks.

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The day earlier, August 20, the birthday of St. Pius X, the SSPX pilgrimage had first organized a Holy Mass at the Colle Oppio Park behind the Colosseum, where a large number of Christians were martyred, with Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani presiding over the liturgy. Confessions were heard in multiple languages by the SSPX priests throughout the Mass. Father Pagliarani delivered a homily in five different languages, among them French, Italian, and English.

“Rome is the city of Martyrs,” Father Pagliarani stated in his homily, “but it is also the city of Popes.”

When summing up the essence of the 2,000-year-old history of the papacy in Rome, he said that “they put all their efforts in one point,” that is to “give Our Lord His place, His rights, to push everybody to acknowledge the rights of Our Lord,” and to “give Our Lord the first place in everything.”

“Instaurare Omnia in Christo” is the motto of Pope St. Pius X, as the Superior General of the SSPX told his audience, also reminding them of the fact that it was his birthday on August 20. This motto leads to an “unceasing struggle” against sin, “and this effort will be there until the end of times.” That very effort is the “effort of Our Lord Himself.” History will only end when Our Lord submits all the dominions of the world to “God the Father,” the priest concluded.

The pilgrims who came from all over the world – American, Mexican, Japanese, German, French, and Austrian flags, among others, were flying in the air – were of all ages. Some wore crutches; others came with babies in their arms or in strollers. Youth groups could be seen chanting and laughing.

LifeSite asked two young men from Austria and Switzerland about their participation at this pilgrimage. One of them said that he was impressed to see “so many people with the same background,” so many Christians. Both young men said that they were hoping for “recognition” by Rome and that there would be “better relations with the Pope again.”

“I came here to make a statement for the traditional Latin Mass,” one young man from the Netherlands explained, adding that he hopes that “the Pope sees this and hopefully changes some things in the Church.”

Another young man from this group of Dutch pilgrims stated that “we support our Pope” and that “we are dedicated to the Roman Catholic faith” and that “we love him and pray for him.” He was hoping that the Church would welcome back “the traditions” of the Catholic Faith. Others added that they came to Rome to support “the SSPX,” as well as “the bishops and priests” of the SSPX.

Another young pilgrim from the Netherlands told LifeSite he thought the atmosphere was “very good” and that it was great to meet “many people from all over the world.” He would hope that Pope Leo XIV would see that “he is our Pope as well,” and that “we pray for them,” he explained. He also hoped that the SSPX would be regularized by Rome.

“I was hoping to get lots of grace and to meet many young people from all over the world,” one young woman with Polish-German background told LifeSite. “It was amazing and very impressive to see how many we actually are, how many traditional Catholics there are in the world,” she added. She was particularly “moved” by the fact that the pilgrims sang the chant to Pope St. Pius X in St. Peter’s Basilica. She was hoping to get “more attention” and “more compassion,” especially “for the traditional Catholic Faith.”

A second young woman from the U.S. added that she wanted “to storm heaven with all our prayers” and that she was “fully overcome with the true Faith and with the whole atmosphere of joy and love for our Faith,” as it was expressed at St. Peter’s when all were singing the “Credo and the Te Deum.”

“That was just a moment that I will never forget,” she added. “It filled my heart with joy that there are still so many of us out there.” This young Catholic also was hoping for a “better connection between us and the Church and the  Pope.”

Last year, one bishop of the SSPX, Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, unexpectedly had passed, so there are only two bishops left for the more than one million faithful throughout the world who attend chapels of the SSPX, for the ordination of priests, the presiding over religious ceremonies, as well as for the administration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, among other duties. LifeSite has learned that the two bishops are currently quite stretched with regard to their international travels.

Wilko Lorenz, a pilgrim from Germany, told LifeSite that he came to Rome for the Holy Year “to be here with the Holy Father.” He described the atmosphere of the pilgrimage as “unbelievable,” adding that it was “impressive how many young people are here.”

With regard to the relations between the Society and Pope Leo XIV, Lorenz explained that he was “full of hope” that the Pope would realize that the Society and its faithful “are committed to Rome, to Pope Leo.” He also pointed out that the SSPX needed more bishops to ordain priests, and he hoped that Pope Leo would help them in this matter.

Finally, LifeSite was also able to interview one of the SSPX priests, Father Helmut Trutt, of Munich, Germany, who had led a group of 60 pilgrims from Southern Germany to the pilgrimage in Rome.

“25 years ago, I did not have the opportunity to go to the Jubilee Year in Rome, so this year I said to myself I have to go,” he told LifeSite, explaining why he went to Rome. He went there also because his Superior had asked him to lead a group of pilgrims and simply also because of the “Holy Year.”

Last time, 25 years ago, his own father had gone and later told him about his visit to the Holy Doors. This time, Father Trutt explained, “I had to go.”

With regard to the SSPX pilgrimage, the priest said that “it was a very great event of the Faith, I think, to see all the seminarians, the priests, the religious sisters and brothers and the faithful, to see them singing and praying.”

“This was an event of the Faith that will not often come,” he expounded. Father also said he hoped the pilgrimage ensured among the faithful that “love for Rome, the Rome of eternity, will be growing more and more.”