Technically, there is no charge for obtaining tickets to attend a Papal Audience, but if you want good seats, indeed, if you want any seats, you had better go as part of a tour group. The tickets cost about $40 each and included pick up at our hotel to the Tour Office, ride in a tour bus with a guide that explains the rules in multiple languages, including where the bus will be waiting to pick you up should you decide to return with the group at the conclusion of the tour (a lot of people choose to stick around the Vatican area), escort to a very expensive religious articles store, where you can purchase medals, rosaries, etc., so the Pope can bless them, and then an escort through St. Peter’s Square, to a section reserved for tours where you get decent seats to watch the drama unfold. All told, there were over six thousand people in attendance at the Audience we witnessed. Papal audiences take place only on Wednesdays so that’s why we had to move up our trip by one day.
I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but I knew that there would be a very large crowd, so my expectations were low. Perhaps because of that, I was pleasantly surprised and moved.
It began with the sighting of the official Vatican guards, dressed in a uniform designed by Michelangelo. These guys were not actors, albeit the costumes, they were serious guards from an elite Swiss army corps. They were young, serious, and looked like they meant business. They were also tolerant of the tourists snapping their pictures.
The Pope arrived and began circling the circumference of St. Peter’s Square in his Pope-mobile. He stood up and smiled and waved at the crowd and was generally received like a superstar. Secret Service-type guards rode inside the vehicle and ran along side it, in much the same way, ours do next to our president’s car. They even wore the requisite dark glasses. Lee and I wandered if there were sharp-shooters hidden behind any of those statues that line the top of the columns in the square. Everyone was standing up now, trying to take pictures, holding their cameras high over their heads, hoping to snap a picture of him. It was hard to see anything at this point, even the large screens that they’ve added to the square to improve the view of those in the back weren’t helping much with everyone standing.
Eventually, the crowd settled down, and the ceremony continued. High ranking church members, in different languages, introduced the crowd to His Holiness. It went something like this from the English-speaking prelate: “Your Holiness, on behalf of the English speaking people of Great Britain, represented by pilgrims from the Church of So and So from Wales, the Sisters of Charity from Convent XYZ in Scotland, pilgrims from the Church of St. Paul in London, (and so forth, a long litany of everyone attending the audience from Great Britain, followed by the United States and Canada, followed by any other English-speaking countries represented that day) we offer you greetings, etc. . . . “ Every time he mentioned a different group, that group would stand up, cheer and wave to the Pope. Sometimes they waved bandanas, or flags. Occasionally they broke out in song. Yes, that is correct. Some groups had songs prepared to sing to the Pope and they did so when their group was mentioned. The prelate waited until the song was over, and then continued his recitation. When the English speaking version was concluded, then the process was repeated in another language; on and on in Italian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Polish. I can’t quite remember if I covered all the languages. This, as you can imagine, took quite a while, but I was thoroughly entertained. It was people watching at its best.
Next came the turn for the Pope to speak. He had a very nice, short, general message about what it meant to be Church. It wasn’t the buildings; it was the community of people that gathered that made it Church. He spoke for about ten minutes, but repeated the message in every language mentioned above.
The ceremony then concluded with the entire crowd praying the “Our Father” in Latin (printed in the back of the ticket). The Pope raised his arm and blessed the entire crowd. The Pope’s blessing was extended to family members, especially children, and to any religious articles you may have been holding.
For me, it wasn’t a deep religious experience, but it felt joyous. The crowd was respectful; we were referred to as “pilgrims” not visitors or tourists, there was a sense of inclusiveness in this enormous “Church,” the fact that the Pope chose a message of love and understanding, the fact that the whole ceremony was imbued with rituals, made it all seem very comforting. When it was all done, I didn’t feel like running out of there. I wanted to linger and enjoy the sights a little longer.
We met Barb and Bob, who had arrived that morning, for lunch at a restaurant not far from the Vatican, called Cesare’s. I can’t even remember what we ate there. We explained to them about our luggage and how we needed to return to the hotel after lunch to see if our suitcase had arrived. If not, we were going to have to go shopping for some clothes. Barb expressed an interest in buying a pair of shoes because the boots that she had brought were lined in fleece and were very warm. She was hoping to find more comfortable walking shoes. When we returned to the hotel we were relieved to discover that our suitcase had showed up, but Barb was still interested in getting a pair of shoes, so we all agreed to go to a mall and do some shopping. This turned out to be one of the greatest adventures of our trip. I better save this story for another chapter.
I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but I knew that there would be a very large crowd, so my expectations were low. Perhaps because of that, I was pleasantly surprised and moved.
It began with the sighting of the official Vatican guards, dressed in a uniform designed by Michelangelo. These guys were not actors, albeit the costumes, they were serious guards from an elite Swiss army corps. They were young, serious, and looked like they meant business. They were also tolerant of the tourists snapping their pictures.
The Pope arrived and began circling the circumference of St. Peter’s Square in his Pope-mobile. He stood up and smiled and waved at the crowd and was generally received like a superstar. Secret Service-type guards rode inside the vehicle and ran along side it, in much the same way, ours do next to our president’s car. They even wore the requisite dark glasses. Lee and I wandered if there were sharp-shooters hidden behind any of those statues that line the top of the columns in the square. Everyone was standing up now, trying to take pictures, holding their cameras high over their heads, hoping to snap a picture of him. It was hard to see anything at this point, even the large screens that they’ve added to the square to improve the view of those in the back weren’t helping much with everyone standing.
Eventually, the crowd settled down, and the ceremony continued. High ranking church members, in different languages, introduced the crowd to His Holiness. It went something like this from the English-speaking prelate: “Your Holiness, on behalf of the English speaking people of Great Britain, represented by pilgrims from the Church of So and So from Wales, the Sisters of Charity from Convent XYZ in Scotland, pilgrims from the Church of St. Paul in London, (and so forth, a long litany of everyone attending the audience from Great Britain, followed by the United States and Canada, followed by any other English-speaking countries represented that day) we offer you greetings, etc. . . . “ Every time he mentioned a different group, that group would stand up, cheer and wave to the Pope. Sometimes they waved bandanas, or flags. Occasionally they broke out in song. Yes, that is correct. Some groups had songs prepared to sing to the Pope and they did so when their group was mentioned. The prelate waited until the song was over, and then continued his recitation. When the English speaking version was concluded, then the process was repeated in another language; on and on in Italian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Polish. I can’t quite remember if I covered all the languages. This, as you can imagine, took quite a while, but I was thoroughly entertained. It was people watching at its best.
Next came the turn for the Pope to speak. He had a very nice, short, general message about what it meant to be Church. It wasn’t the buildings; it was the community of people that gathered that made it Church. He spoke for about ten minutes, but repeated the message in every language mentioned above.
The ceremony then concluded with the entire crowd praying the “Our Father” in Latin (printed in the back of the ticket). The Pope raised his arm and blessed the entire crowd. The Pope’s blessing was extended to family members, especially children, and to any religious articles you may have been holding.
For me, it wasn’t a deep religious experience, but it felt joyous. The crowd was respectful; we were referred to as “pilgrims” not visitors or tourists, there was a sense of inclusiveness in this enormous “Church,” the fact that the Pope chose a message of love and understanding, the fact that the whole ceremony was imbued with rituals, made it all seem very comforting. When it was all done, I didn’t feel like running out of there. I wanted to linger and enjoy the sights a little longer.
We met Barb and Bob, who had arrived that morning, for lunch at a restaurant not far from the Vatican, called Cesare’s. I can’t even remember what we ate there. We explained to them about our luggage and how we needed to return to the hotel after lunch to see if our suitcase had arrived. If not, we were going to have to go shopping for some clothes. Barb expressed an interest in buying a pair of shoes because the boots that she had brought were lined in fleece and were very warm. She was hoping to find more comfortable walking shoes. When we returned to the hotel we were relieved to discover that our suitcase had showed up, but Barb was still interested in getting a pair of shoes, so we all agreed to go to a mall and do some shopping. This turned out to be one of the greatest adventures of our trip. I better save this story for another chapter.
No comments:
Post a Comment