Vatican pilgrimage agency launches spiritual 'smart box'

Catholic faithful can now make use of a new line of pre-planned travel packages, or 'smart boxes', to visit spiritual destinations in Italy and abroad. 'Scrinium' is an initiative of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi (ORP), the pilgrimage arm of the Vicariate of Rome, in conjunction with publishing house Mondadori, owned by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest, and is being marketed as part of the latter's themed travel package series 'Box for You'. ''It is an innovative tool for evangelisation that can reach everybody and that can easily be found in contemporary meeting places, starting with shopping centres,'' says ORP. The pilgrimages on offer include itineraries in Christian Rome and Rome and the Vatican, a Christmas trip to the Holy Land, and visits to the sanctuaries of Lourdes, Fatima and Santiago de Compostela, all for no longer than three days. '''Scrinium' comes in answer to a demand for spirituality that is very common in today's world,'' said Father Caesar Atuire, CEO of ORP. ''It is a proposal that can be described as a gradual 'introduction' to the spiritual experience of pilgrimage'', allowing certain stereotypes to be overcome. ''A pilgrim is first and foremost a man or woman who wants to find an answer to the search for meaning that has always inhabited Man's heart,'' he added.