St. Peter’s Basilica launches Spazio d’Ascolto, a welcoming space for worshippers and tourists to share thoughts with priests, nuns, or lay listeners.
Newsroom (06/11/2025, Gaudium Press ) St. Peter’s Basilica has inaugurated a new Spazio d’Ascolto, or Listening Space, designed to foster dialogue and spiritual accompaniment for both worshippers and visitors, the AICA news agency reported.
Located within the basilica, the initiative provides an open area where individuals can pause and speak freely with priests, nuns, or trained laypeople offering pastoral support.
“The Holy Door, opened in its time, inspired us to open ‘another door’ in St. Peter’s Basilica and create a space for listening,” said Monsignor Orazio Pepe.
“It is an open space, an opportunity for encounter, a place where one brother—a priest, a nun, a layperson—listens to another brother in humanity,” he added.
Monsignor Pepe clarified that the Listening Space complements rather than replaces the confessional. It serves as a moment of inner reflection, allowing people to voice thoughts and concerns without sacramental formality.
“The person listening does not replace the confessor who administers the sacrament of reconciliation,” he explained. “It is simply a pause that allows one to speak and confront one’s own thoughts with someone willing to listen.”
The prelate emphasized the space’s role in easing emotional burdens: “The purpose is to help free the heart from the burden, the pain and the doubts that life entails.”
The initiative extends beyond the faithful to cultural and tourist visitors. “For those who come as tourists in search of beauty, this space can be a unique opportunity,” Monsignor Pepe said, “an invitation to ask themselves meaningful questions about life and about God.”
He expressed hope that brief encounters might spark lasting spiritual interest: “The seeds of the Gospel, sown in people’s hearts, will bear fruit in due time. And if they awaken a holy concern, people will be able to continue that dialogue in their city or country, by contacting the local Church.”
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Infovaticana
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