HISTORICAL MILESTONE: The Camino de Santiago Delivers the 500,000th Compostela
Santiago de Compostela, October 20, 2025
The Camino de Santiago has set a new historical record. This morning, the Pilgrim Reception Office confirmed the delivery of the Compostela number 500,000 of the year 2025, a milestone that underlines the growing global impact of the Jacobean route.
The record number was reached by Jairo Forero, a pilgrim originally from Colombia. Forero arrived in Santiago on the afternoon of last Sunday, October 19 after completing the Portuguese Way from Bayonne.
A Path of Tribute and Remembrance
The emotion of the moment was profound: Jairo made the pilgrimage in the company of his son, Nicolás, as a tribute and memory of his wife and mother, respectively, who died last December.
The Compostela delivery ceremony was held in the presence of prominent authorities, including Monsignor Francisco Prieto, Archbishop of Santiago, and Alfonso Rueda, president of the Xunta de Galicia.
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The Transformation of the Spirit
During the ceremony, Monsignor Prieto highlighted the spiritual and transformative essence of the Jacobean experience:
«The Camino is carrying out a progressive transformation, which makes those who walk discover themselves as pilgrims. And so he arrives, in that vital and spiritual condition, with tired feet, but with the joy of accomplishing a goal, a fact that continues in a heart and life transformed by this experience.
Pilgrim Jairo Forero symbolizes the deep personal connection and motivation that drives half a million people around the world to undertake this journey each year. The new historical record consolidates the Camino de Santiago as a global pilgrimage phenomenon in constant growth.
