‘One nation under God’: Christians to march through DC as part of 2,000-mile Eucharistic procession

American Catholics kicked off the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in St. Augustine, Florida, over the Memorial Day weekend. In the days since, pilgrims from numerous dioceses have joined the procession — the theme of which is “one nation under God” — along its roughly 2,000-mile route, which threads most of the original 13 colonies.

The procession, which began just days after the similarly themed multidenominational Rededicate 250 event at the National Mall, will ultimately conclude over the 4th of July weekend in Philadelphia, where pilgrims will honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The “perpetual pilgrims” will also carry the Eucharist — which Catholics hold to be the real and substantial presence of Jesus Christ — through the national capital on Saturday.

‘We ask God to bless the United States.’

“This procession is both an act of faith and a prayer for the country: that amid division and uncertainty, Americans remember that human dignity, freedom, and unity are rooted in something greater than politics or ideology,” said Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress, in a statement obtained by Blaze News.

Fr. Charles Trullols, director of the Catholic Institute Center, which has partnered with the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, will receive the consecrated host at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Alexandria on Friday evening. He will then begin this leg of the pilgrimage and carry the Blessed Sacrament through the night, blessing Virginia and the District of Columbia along the way.

The procession will resume on Saturday morning and weave through the streets of Washington — stopping at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine, then ending at “America’s Catholic Church,” the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for Mass.

Pilgrims will be led on Saturday by the Metropolitan D.C. Police.

“It is a great joy to bring the Body of Christ to the streets of our nation’s capital,” said Fr. Trullols, whose organization has held Eucharistic processions in the national capital annually since 2023, in a statement obtained by Blaze News.

“A Eucharistic procession is a public expression of our devotion and belief in the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. This year’s procession is especially meaningful to me, as Pope Leo XIV leads a Eucharistic procession this weekend in my home country of Spain, which historically suppressed Eucharistic processions in the 1930s.”

RELATED: Pope Leo XIV recognizes martyrdom of Christians slaughtered by Spanish leftists

Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Robert Knopes/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

“As we approach America’s 250th birthday, we join the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in remembering and giving thanks for being One Nation Under God,” continued Fr. Trullols. “We ask God to bless the United States and pray that hearts be set aflame with love for [the Eucharist,] the Source and Summit of the Christian life.”

The pilgrimage has been placed under the patronage of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American citizen to be canonized as a saint.

Cabrini, the youngest of 13 children, was a nun who founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Italy to take care of poor kids in schools and hospitals. She continued this mission in the United States, founding 67 institutions, including orphanages and hospitals. Years after becoming a citizen, she succumbed to complications from dysentery at one of her hospitals in Chicago.

Next week, as part of the broader religious celebrations coinciding with honors paid to America on her 250th birthday, U.S. Catholic bishops plan to consecrate the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

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