Presented at the Campidoglio the Vol.A in Rete project, Volunteers for the Jubilee.

Dec 2024 • Home En, News / Events

The project of widespread reception, information and support to pilgrims Vol.A in Rete, implemented by the CSV Lazio and Forum Terzo Settore Lazio and promoted by the Civil Protection Department and Department of Social Policies and Health at the Division of Social Policies and Health of Roma Capitale, kicks off.

Cristina De Luca, President of CSV Lazio said: “Welcoming will be the hallmark of this project. The Jubilee 2025 is an opportunity for a new season of voluntary activation of citizens”

Francesca Danese, spokesperson of Forum Terzo Settore Lazio declared: “For the first time a path of productive collaboration between Volunteers, Third Sector, Civil Defense and the Social Policies Department that will act as one”.

On Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, the Vol.A in Rete project for the widespread reception, information and volunteer support for pilgrims arriving in Rome during the Jubilee of the Catholic Church 2025, was presented at the Campidoglio in Rome.

At the presentation press conference took part: Agostino Miozzo, the head of hospitality service coordination for the Jubilee 2025, Barbara Funari, Councillor for Social Policies and Health of Rome; Giuseppe Napolitano, Director of the Civil Protection Department of Rome; Cristina De Luca, President of the CSV Lazio ETS; Antonio D’Alessandro, project manager for Forum Terzo Settore of Lazio.

The Vol.A in Rete PROJECT was promoted by the Civil Protection Department of Rome and the Social Policies and Health Department at the Division of Social Policies and Health of Rome and is implemented by the CSV Lazio ETS – Centro di Servizio per il Volontariato and Forum Terzo Settore del Lazio APS. The project is the result of a long journey of co-scheduling and co-planning between the istitutions and the realities of volunteers, in productive collaboration that places people at the center, in a city that rediscovers itself capable of openness to renewed forms of sociality. “Vol.A in Rete is really good news on the threshold of the opening of the Holy Door of our city.” In this way Barbara Funari, Councillor for Social Policies and Health of Rome, pointed out that “the co-planning process with CSV Lazio, Forum Terzo Settore Lazio and the entire network of voluntary associations and Third Sector organizations was made of shared administration, which is how we govern this administration and a model that we increasingly want to promote.”

Throughout the Jubilee year, the Vol.A in Rete project will involve a wide network of volunteer organizations, mobilizing thousands of volunteers in Rome in a system of reception spread throughout the territory that, for the duration of the Holy Year, includes 24 reception points placed at association headquarters and managed by associations and Third Sector entities and up to 12 mobile units, located in strategic places in Rome, particularly closed to the numerous events planned for the Jubilee.

Volunteers will assist pilgrims by directing them among services and informing them about Jubilee itineraries and events. Special support will be given to the most fragile, elderly, people with disabilities, minors or foreigners. “Today begins a beautiful project, which aims at giving real assistance and not to its publicity, that doesn’t make a show of itself,” stressed Agostino Miozzo, the head of hospitality service coordination for the Jubilee 2025. “The assistance and permanent attention to fragile and disabled people, to pilgrims, is the extraordinary added value of this great project. 40-50 million people between pilgrims and tourists are expected in Rome, and Vol.A in Rete, will be able to activate thousands of volunteers and will guarantee that no one will be left alone.”

Giuseppe Napolitano, Director of the Civil Defense Department of Rome, declared that with Vol.A in Rete “we go beyond the habit of always thinking about emergency management. We build together, and much more we will build with the volunteers, whatever their vocation or belonging is. They are citizens that have the ambition to be recognized as belonging to a mission, they and their families. Volunteers who are and will be the real protagonists of this reception.”

THE DEDICATED WEBSITE.

During the press conference, the reference website of Vol.A in Rete, www.accoglienzagiubileo.it,, was presented. Designed in 6 languages for pilgrims, tourists and volunteers, it will contain a map updated in real time with the reception points and mobile units of Vol.A in Rete, as well as health garrisons; the reception points of the Civil Defense Department of Rome and the Social Operations Room of the Social Policies and Health Department at the Division of Social Policies and Health of Rome; and the Jubilee itineraries. The site will be continuously updated with the latest news related to Jubilee events and all association activities related to the Holy Year in the territory.

BECOME A VOL.A IN RETE VOLUNTEER

Citizens can get active and become volunteers of the project. All you have to do is visit this page  www.accoglienzagiubileo.it/diventa-volontario. Volunteers will receive specific training.

“The associations involved by CSV Lazio and Forum Terzo Settore,” said the CSV Lazio President Cristina De Luca, “will open their offices to the pilgrims, which will be not only information points, but also of listening and relationship. We already have started working on recruiting volunteers, that will be thousands. People of all ages, bearers of different experiences, stories and motivations. Welcoming will be the hallmark of this project and the actions it will put in place.” “Pope Francis”, she added, “invites us in these days to turn to young people, to a shared commitment so that they understand the importance of activism for the common good. A central point for CSV Lazio and for volunteering: the Jubilee 2025 is an occasion, an opportunity for a new season of voluntary activation of citizens.”

“Rome will welcome pilgrims everywhere and in all municipalities,” recalled Antonio D’Alessandro, project manager of Forum Terzo Settore del Lazio. “As Forum Terzo Settore Lazio I’d like to thank everyone, on behalf of the spokesperson Francesca Danese, because the project was truly an example of shared administration, as Councillor Funari said. We started off different points and needs. Civil Defense was rightly concerned about emergencies related to major events, which are about ninety. We as the Third Sector were concerned about the day to day: besides the events there were the other 270-plus days. The city’s participation in the Jubilee is expressed by Vol.A in Rete through voluntary associations, social promotion and cooperatives that, first of all, make themselves available, with their long experience and the work they do every day, and their offices. The volunteers and social workers of the reception points are specialized in the most important social issues of our city: immigration, the elderly, disability and more. There will be welcoming places with welcoming people.”

Chiara Tommasini, President of CSVnet- National Association of Volunteer Service Centers; Michela Micheli, Director of the Department of Social Policies and Health; and Gianna Rita Zagaria, Director of Reception and Inclusion, Department of Social Policies and Health at the Division of Social Policies and Health of Rome were present at the event.