By Hannah Brockhaus
Vatican City, Mar 27, 2025 / 12:45 pm
Now in its 12th year, the Church’s “24 Hours for the Lord” Lenten initiative is believed to have been inspired by the Eucharistic devotion of a group of young Catholics in Rome.
On the night of March 12-13, 2013, just hours before Cardinal Jorge Bergolio would be elected pope, young adults were gathered in prayer before the Eucharist in a small church dedicated to youth just outside the Vatican.
It was not the first time. A few weeks prior, the group had also spent all night in adoration at a different church as Pope Benedict XVI was ending his papacy and preparing to leave the Vatican to fly by helicopter to the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.
One day the following year, Pope Francis announced that the whole Church would spend “24 Hours for the Lord,” with a special Lenten penance liturgy at the Vatican, while some of Rome’s churches remained open all night for adoration and confession.
“One of the most beautiful visions that we had when we were young was to put Jesus as the protagonist, at the center,” Daniele Venturi, a young adult leader in Rome at the time, told EWTN News in a Feb. 4 interview.
“Over the years, we experienced these intense and important moments of Eucharistic adoration … where we really saw Jesus attracting,” he added. “[Jesus] says [in the Gospel of John], ‘I will draw everyone to myself,’ and we saw him in action.”
“One of the most significant nights that ignited this Eucharistic spark was in the moment between the resignation of Benedict XVI and the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Francis,” Venturi added. “We were right inside this church [St.
Lawrence in Piscibus] in an intense prayer that lasted several days, 24 hours, day and night.
Venturi, 55, passed away on March 13, just two days after being hospitalized for a sudden illness that required intensive care.
A devout Catholic, Venturi founded the Italian association “Papaboys” to engage and inspire young people with the Catholic faith, starting after World Youth Day with Pope John Paul II in 2000.
He often led prayer sessions at the San Lorenzo Center, organizing 24-hour prayer marathons especially during Benedict XVI and early Francis papacies.
He spoke of a spiritual connection between the pontificates, a chain of prayer that transcended time.
Introduced by Pope Francis in 2014, “24 Hours for the Lord” is a Lenten initiative focusing on confession and Eucharistic adoration. Churches worldwide participate by staying open for 24 hours with priests available for confessions on the eve of the fourth Sunday of Lent.
