When the 6,000 pilgrims arrived at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels after a sun-drenched, seven-mile Saturday morning walk on April 5, they had to face one last challenge: fitting in their destination.
“I’ve been saying lately we need a bigger cathedral,” Archbishop José H. Gomez joked during the Mass, where many had to sit on the floor.
The problem was also the ultimate sign of success for the day’s Pilgrimage of Hope, which brought people through the streets of LA, starting at All Souls Church in Alhambra, stopping for breaks at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Rose Hill and Our Lady Help of Christians in Lincoln Heights, then ending at the cathedral for a special Mass.
Since Pope Francis has declared 2025 to be a Jubilee Holy Year, the pilgrimage was also an opportunity for pilgrims to receive a plenary indulgence by participating in the event and fulfilling other conditions.
When the first throngs of pilgrims approached the cathedral — sweating and red-faced, but beaming with happiness — there was applause and shouts of praise as they reverently touched the entrance doors on their way into Mass.
“You showed up today expecting Jesus to show up, and show up he did. We filled the streets with prayer and witness and God filled us with his grace,” Father Parker Sandoval, vice chancellor and senior director of ministerial services for the archdiocese, said during the Mass.
“The Church in Los Angeles is alive,” he said, which prompted spontaneous applause.
In his homily, Archbishop Gomez invited the pilgrims to “reflect on how Jesus is calling us to be his instruments, heroes of hope” whether at home, school, church, or in society.
“Jesus is sending us into the world to share the hope that we have in him,” said the archbishop.
The pilgrimage offered plenty of examples of what that hope looks like in person.
That Saturday morning, pilgrims first began to fill All Souls Church as the sun started peeking over the horizon. At 8 a.m., a spirit of anticipation was in the air as Archbishop Gomez led the crowd onto Main Street, with some bystanders gawking and capturing the crowd and the moment on their cellphones.
Hope was found in the rosary beads that pilgrims clutched as they walked, in the songs blaring from speakers pulled along in wagons, and in the relics of saints and blesseds that were carried along the journey, including St. Francis of Assisi, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, and soon-to-be-saints Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati.
Cristina Mazza, a teacher who sings in the choir at St. Dominic Church in Eagle Rock, was walking, hoping for an answer to her desire for motherhood.
“I’m certain of [God’s] presence in my life,” Mazza said. “I’ve seen how my desire has taken shapes that I haven't thought would be possible, with my students, with my friends. I’ve seen how it’s possible to be a mother in a nontraditional way.”
She and her husband are in the process of becoming foster parents, but even with that clarity, Mazza still looks constantly for God’s guidance.
“Even though I do have a glimpse of answers, my heart has always asked for more and more light into this desire that I have,” she said.
Ana Tan has been a catechist for three years at St. Mary and Our Lady of the Desert churches in Palmdale, and she offered up her pilgrimage for her and her husband’s confirmation students, who she said are constantly looking for answers.
“I think at the core of it is they’re looking for purpose,” Tan said. “We told them there is one goal in life, it’s to get to heaven. One of the taglines we told them is it’s YOLO [You Only Live Once] for Christ. This life is only temporarily yours, but you may seek permission from God before you do anything.”
Cousins Nancy Franco and Maria Rendon walked together, both hoping for continued faith and strength to endure personal struggles that were happening in their lives. For Franco, she prayed for the health of her son, who was seriously injured in a football game, tearing several ligaments, dislocating his kneecap, and suffering life-threatening nerve damage.
“We were in a really bad situation — it was life and death,” Franco said. “So I grabbed God, and said, ‘I know he’s your son, but let me keep him for a little longer.’ And he has, and it’s been a tough journey, but through God and our faith and my family’s prayers, this has helped us to stay strong.
“There’s no treatment other than to pray for it to come back.”
Rendon was still feeling the loss of her deceased parents and equated the pilgrimage walk with her daily journey of grief, but also the path to heaven.
“When you’re feeling down, just get up and keep walking,” she said. “You walk the way God wants you to walk. Because I want to see my parents, and I want to be sure that I have a first-class ticket. I don’t want any stops. I want to go straight up. So that’s the goal.”
At both Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady Help of Christians rest stops, pilgrims had opportunities to take a break, use the restroom, and get some water.
At Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, participants streamed into the church parking lot where volunteers greeted them with music, high-fives, and applause, and directed them toward folding tables where they’d set out free coffee, water bottles, and granola bars to help give them sustenance.
Volunteers spent hours setting up the various stations and dedicated more than a month to planning logistics, all as a way to be of service to others, said Deacon Juan Ayon.
“We feel very blessed to be a part of this,” Ayon said. “To see all of these people arriving with such faith means a lot to us and to our church community.”
Florencia Salanic and her 12-year-old son, both of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Los Angeles, were among those who paused at Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Salanic said the fact that her son was able to accompany her on the journey is a “miracle” in itself, because her son was hit by a car at age 3 and doctors initially said he might never walk again.
Today, he’s able to walk and play just like any other child his age, she said.
“I feel happy to be here,” she said. “I am giving thanks to God today for everything he gives me and for my family.
“God never abandons us.”
Back at the cathedral, as the pilgrims streamed out into the Plaza after a long and fruitful day, Teresa Puga and Salvador Vasquez were asked what they expected — what they hoped for — as they returned home.
“I just needed that reset to get my faith back on track,” Puga said. “I was hoping to leave some of the burdens that have been weighing me down, leave it all on the walk and feel fresh and revived.
“I’m hoping to remember this. I’m hoping that the community will remember this day and we’ll continue to pray for one another, for all of those that were here today, for everyone who walked.”
Theresa Cisneros contributed to this story.
