The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella arrived in Assisi to participate in the celebrations in honor of St. Francis, patron saint of Italy.
To welcome the head of state were the custodian of the Sacred Convent, Fra Marco Moroni, and the president of the Umbria Region Donatella Tesei and the mayor of Assisi Stefania Proietti.
Also present was the president of the CEI, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi.
Two years after the pandemic it is the whole of Italy, not a single region as usually happens, that lights the lamp that burns in Assisi at the tomb of St. Francis.
President Mattarella will do so during the liturgical celebration in the upper Basilica.
Then from the loggia of the Sacred Convent he will address the traditional Message to the Nation.
Many children were also waiting for Mattarella who shouted at him "
