Rome to be spruced up in time for Year of Jubilee, Mayor Gualtieri tells Pope Francis

ROME – In a half-hour audience with Pope Francis on Friday, Rome’s Mayor Roberto Gualtieri reported that more than 1,400 public work sites are open across the city in preparation for the Jubilee Year of 2025, and vowed that the city will be “not only cleaner and more presentable, but also more supportive and inclusive” during the year-long Catholic festival. Gualtieri presented Pope Francis with a book illustrating 184 principal projects for the Holy Year which, he said, will “change the face” of the city. “We’re working without pause,” Gaultieri said, acknowledging that preparations for the Jubilee Year got off to a slow start because of the collapse of the former government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi in late 2022, which, he said, caused a 7-8 month delay in approving the necessary legislation. Nevertheless, Gualtieri said, the city is scrambling to catch up, including authorizing overtime for crews to work on some projects overnight, from 9 pm to 6 am, in part to speed up completion and in part to ease traffic burdens created by the work sites. Gualtieri acknowledged that the various constructions projects across town are creating no shortage of disruptions, adding to the city’s already notoriously congested traffic situation, but said that “without work sites, there’s no future for the city.” In terms of specific improvements anticipated for the Jubilee Year, Gualtieri cited five projects in particular in the vicinity of the Vatican. In each case, Gualtieri vowed, the result will be “a qualitative leap in terms of beautification and use of the area.” In addition, Gualtieri also sketched improvements in other areas of urban life he anticipates being in place by 2025, including city-wide 5G internet coverage, as well as enhancements in public transportation such as the addition of 400 new buses and 120 new electric trams. He also promised improvements in ancillary services, noting that in 2021 an estimated 25 percent of the escalators in the city’s metro system didn’t work, a share now believed to be at ten percent, and which he said will be at five percent when the holy year opens.