Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez and Monsignor Girolamo Prigione, a special envoy of the Pope John Paul II, will hold mass at the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, the first in the New World, as part of events held to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the capital city of the Dominican Republic. The mass will take place at 6 pm on Wednesday, 5 August. On Thursday, 6 August, the Patronato de la Ciudad Colonial will officially receive from José Ignacio Senao Gómez, of the city of Zaragoza, Spain the contribution of the street signs of the Colonial City. At noon, the Cardinal will open the "Santo Domingo 500. Historia Urbana", an exhibition of the urban history of the city of Santo Domingo. A mail stamp will also be released to commemorate the 500 years of the founding of the city. In the evening, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of the Cathedral will perform an oratory at the Teatro Nacional, directed by Carlos Piantini and José Delmonte Peguero at 8:30 pm. On Friday, 7 August, at the site of the Patronato, across from the Columbus Park, books on the Cathedral and on the Guadalupe shipwreck will be released.
