2023-09-07 07:48:09
On September 21, at 9 p.m., France will face Namibia at the Vélodrome stadium in Marseille, and will try to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup. In this same place and barely 48 hours later, Saturday afternoon, September 23, Pope Francis will celebrate a mass in front of 60,000 faithful as part of his visit to the Mediterranean Meetings.
“The velodrome is Marseille”
« When we saw that a World Cup match would take place two days before, we thought we would never be able to go to the Vélodrome. It was finally the stadium that showed up”, says Father Romain Louge, responsible for the liturgy for the Pope’s mass and parish priest of Endoume, in the 7th arrondissement of Marseille. The organizing team welcomed the proposal positively. “For us, it was important to celebrate mass at the stadium. The Velodrome is Marseilles”, enthuses the priest.
The fact remains that transforming the stadium into a church in less than two days is quite a challenge. First stage of the metamorphosis: cover the lawn, so that it is not damaged by the trampling of the faithful and the technicians who have come to set up the stage. This device will allow the pope to wander in the popemobile in the middle of the crowd, before reaching the platform from where he will preside over the mass.
A quick job
“The North bend will be transformed into a church choir, with an altar, the statue of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, the Pope’s cathedra and an ambo, the platform from which the Word of God is proclaimed”explains Father Louge.
For their part, the VIP areas of the stadium will become sacristies, to allow deacons, priests and bishops to dress in their mass vestments. The rest of the stadium should remain recognizable, with most of the stands serving as the nave to accommodate the faithful.
This flash project will mainly be carried out by external service providers. Teams will take turns 24 hours a day to set up the stage and take care of the technical part. About fifty volunteers should work alongside them to manage the logistics of the sacristies, the floral decoration, the handling of tables and chairs…
Thanks to this intense mobilization, the Mass of Pope Francis will be celebrated ” Normally “ In the stadium. “Everyone will be able to communicate, specifies for example Father Romain Louge. We’ve created traffic plans to keep everything running smoothly, and 650 communion ministers will be spread throughout the stadium so it doesn’t take too long.”. The celebration must end no later than 5:45 p.m., when Pope Francis will return to the Vatican.
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