Photos: 2025 Pilgrimage to Rome & the Holy Land

From November 3–15, 2025, pilgrims traveled to Rome and the Holy Land on a 13-day journey of prayer, encounter, and profound grace under the spiritual direction of Fr. Felix. Highlights included a Papal Audience on November 5, where the group saw Pope Leo XIV, and an unforgettable visit to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth on November 10. Fr. Felix shared a photo from the very place where the Incarnation took place, noting: “This is from the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, where I offered Mass today. It is the place where the Incarnation took place. The Jerusalem Cross on the base at the foot of the altar marks the spot. The inscription on the altar is ‘Here the Word became flesh.’ You are all in my prayers.” The pilgrimage concluded with time in Jerusalem, including a group photo at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the heart of the Order’s mission (Southwestern Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre).

Relics of the Holy Crib in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. In 644 AD, St. Sofronio gave Pope Theodor I five pieces of sycamore from the manger of Bethlehem, along with the cloths that the baby Jesus was wrapped in.

Papal Audience on Nov 5, 2025

Pope Leo XIV!

Sea of Galilee

Image from Fr. Felix of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth - Nov 10, 2025

“This is from the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, where I offered Mass today. It is the place where the Incarnation took place. The Jerusalem cross on the base at the foot of the altar marks the spot. The inscription on the altar is ‘Here the Word became flesh’. You are all in my prayers.”

Group picture at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Father Felix is a Knight Commander of the Southwestern Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Learn more at - https://www.eohssouthwest.com/