RIMINI, Italy July 25, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — There will be yet another rosary procession in reparation for this summer’s “gay pride” celebrations in Italy.
The Blessed Giovanna Scopelli Committee will be leading “public prayers of reparation for the sins of ‘Summer Pride 2017’” in Rimini on the morning of Saturday, July 29. This event follows similar processions in other Italian cities, including Milan. The committee organized the first of this summer’s processions in Reggio Emilia on June 3. It attracted about 500 marchers.
In a recent press release, the Committee stated that their maiden procession had “certainly left an indelible mark on the city” of Reggio Emilia. They expressed their support for those other committees who have held their own processions of reparation in Pavia, Varese, Milan and, apparently, various cities in southern Italy. Their own second procession takes place on the same day as Rimini’s “Summer Pride” festivities.
Composed of 2,800 members, the Blessed Giovanna Scopelli Committee is inviting Italians throughout the country to their 10:30 a.m. procession, citing the “national character” of the reparative acts held in Italy this summer. “We are all called to publicly console the pierced Sacred Heart and [the Immaculate Heart] of the Holy Virgin that weeps bitter tears,” the press release concludes. ”We are obliged to do this as Sons of God … as members of the Mystical Body … as Catholic faithful to the Holy Church.”
Radio Spada, the media support for the Committee, has published a video about both processions on YouTube. Quoting Sister Lucia of Fatima, it reminds viewers that “peace is lacking because faith is lacking, penance is lacking, public, collective prayers are lacking.”
The priest of the parish in which the procession will take place has distanced both himself and the diocese from the event. According to reporter Giampiero Lascaro of Il Corriere di Rimini, Don Cristian Squadrani preached from the altar of San Giuliano Church that the reparation “is not one of our initiatives, not of the parish nor of the diocese, and neither do we intend to promote it.”
Those who wish to participate in the procession should contact the Facebook page of “Comitato Beata Giovanna Scopelli.” The procession will begin outside San Giuliano Church and ends outside the church of San Bernardino.
Organizers expect around 100 participants.
Rimini’s “Summer Pride” festivities begin on the evening of Thursday, July 27, with recorded music and dancing. There will be three locations for the “Pride” events: the seaside resort of Rimini Marina Centro, Fellini Square, and the seaside promenade. The Rimini tourist authority is advertising “Summer Pride” as “a festival open to all, a festival of free spirits … a high-spirited cultural and musical event which wants to trigger a new way of asking for rights and recognitions for LGBT people and families in the hot colours of the summer.”