Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino, Catholic church in Tiburtino district, Rome, Italy.
Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino is a Catholic church built with a basilica layout featuring three naves and columns decorated with faux red marble. The gilded capitals and interior proportions follow classical Roman ecclesiastical design principles.
Built between 1942 and 1945 on a slope near Casal Bertone, the church suffered damage from Allied bombing of Rome in 1943 and 1944. On 14 July 1945 the venerated image of Maria Consolatrice was carried here in procession from a chapel in the adjoining palazzo, and the church was blessed that day by vicegerent Monsignor Luigi Traglia. It had been made a parish on 21 May 1945 by decree of Cardinal Vicar Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani.
The venerated image of Maria Consolatrice, a copy of the original kept in the Turin sanctuary of the same name, was carried in procession into the new church on 14 July 1945 from a chapel in the adjoining palazzo where friars of San Lorenzo fuori le mura had said Sunday Mass for the neighbourhood for a decade. The central portal carries a mosaic made in 1975.
The church holds regular Mass services and confession times, serving the local community in the Tiburtino neighborhood. Visitors should check opening hours and dress respectfully when attending services or exploring the interior.
Joseph Ratzinger was titular cardinal of this church from 1977 to 1993, before becoming Benedict XVI. As pope he chose it for his first parish visit, on 18 December 2005. Paul VI had visited on 1 March 1964 and John Paul II in 1995; Francis came on 23 June 2019 for Corpus Domini.
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