Pilgrim Ana Rocío Rodríguez was unable to attend the vigil at Tor Vergata in Rome due to a sudden illness.
However, God granted her an unexpected gift: the opportunity to enter a nearly empty Saint Peter’s Basilica, walk through the Holy Door, and pray the Rosary for young people around the world.
More than one million young people gathered with sleeping bags on the Tor Vergata esplanade on August 2, 2025, to partake in the Saturday Vigil, awaiting the concluding Mass of the Jubilee of Youth.
Ana Rocío, a 28-year-old pilgrim from El Salvador, had been eagerly anticipating this event. But a health issue that arose in the early morning hours prevented her from joining the crowd—a difficult disappointment after so much anticipation.
“I spoke with my doctor back home in El Salvador, and I had to stop,” she told ChurchPOP. “I had to let go of being close to the Pope and the other young people.”
Despite her heartbreak, she placed her trust in God. What she didn’t expect was that He, like a loving Father, would surprise her with a deeply personal gift.
“I never imagined returning to Saint Peter’s Basilica and finding it empty. And as a pilgrim, being able to pass through so quickly,” she said.
That quiet, sacred moment allowed her to walk through the Holy Door once again—and for the first time during the entire pilgrimage, she was finally able to pray the Rosary.
In that prayer, she spiritually united herself to the thousands of young people attending the vigil at Tor Vergata.
“I had the great gift of praying the Rosary for all the young people participating in the vigil, because that was the request. I hadn’t been able to pray it during the whole pilgrimage, and for me, it was such a beautiful gift from Our Mother.”
She also had the opportunity to attend Sunday Mass at Saint Peter’s Basilica—an experience that sealed her pilgrimage in a deeply meaningful way.
“Ending my pilgrimage with that Mass was such a great gift,” she said.
Though Ana Rocío wasn’t physically present on the esplanade with the Pope and the other youth, her pilgrim heart lived the Jubilee fully—and deeply.