Hundreds of motorcyclists join priest in Portugal's Easter on wheels

Hundreds of motorcyclists joined a priest on Sunday to carry the cross of Christ through Sintra in a roaring Easter procession that has become a tradition in the Portuguese town of Sintra near Lisbon.

Father Avelino Alves led the 19th annual Compasso Pascal Motard, riding with the cross on what he calls the “motorcycle of freedom” from the parish church in Pêro Pinheiro to Sintra’s National Palace.

The procession set off at 10 am and travelled through several parishes including Montelavar, Almargem do Bispo and Terrugem before reaching the historic town centre at 1 pm.

Father Avelino, a native of Lamego who serves as parish priest in Pêro Pinheiro, created the motorcycle procession in 2007. The event has grown steadily in popularity, with hundreds of bikers gathering each Easter Sunday morning.

The initiative adapts the traditional Compasso Pascal, a Portuguese custom in which priests carry the cross from house to house to mark Christ’s resurrection by replacing the walking route with a motorcycle convoy.

“People already know that this is Easter Day, the day of the Resurrection, the day for motorcyclists to take to the streets, just as Pope Francis used to say, to go to the peripheries and tell people that, in this world of indifference, there is still Christ, there are still people who believe,” said Father Avelino.

Pope Francis, who died in April 2025, often urged the Catholic Church to bring faith “to the peripheries”.

The roar of motorcycle engines mixed with church bells at both the starting point and arrival in front of the National Palace of Sintra. Residents lined the streets along the route to watch the procession pass.

Jorge Saramago, one of the participants, described the event as a gathering of brotherhood. “On Easter Sunday, this is our family, this is our brotherhood, we are all brothers,” he said.

“And, as long as I can, I will come, this is our Easter family,” Saramago concluded.

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