Il Pape !

We were up bright and early Wednesday to walk to St. Peter’s Square for our audience with the Pope.

Overnight parking is discouraged

   

We needed to be early for good seats because the tickets were for open seating and had been issued to 12,000 or so people.

People were there from all over the world.

We were behind a large group of Polish people with flags and red and white hats.  Fortunate to be very near the front, we had an excellent view of Pope Benedict when he encircled the crowd in his pope-mobile.
This event was somewhere between a rock concert and the Pasadena Rose Parade:  the crowd were cheering and shouting and the pope was smiling and waving like a beauty queen.

Nun standing on chair

But he is protected as a head of state—in addition to the wildly attired Swiss Guard, there was a phalanx of secret service men, and secret service posted through the crowds and on balcony.

The ceremony was in 5 or 6 languages and all of the locations of pilgrim groups were identified.  We were the pilgrims from Strasbourg, of course.  We cheered for France and the United States, however.  The homily or lesson was about St. Brigitte.   Her story of piety and celibacy in marriage and her founding of an order of nuns after her husband’s death didn’t really have a practical lesson.  But Père Regis had explained earlier that the talk was a catechism—that is, an opportunity to teach something about the church—and the Pope’s  theme recently had been the lives of the saints.  Members of the Brigittine order of nuns were in the audience and were recognized by the Pope.

The Pope does a blessing of religious articles and so we had brought crosses to be blessed.

We enjoyed this morning enormously.  It was fun to see the Pope and the faithful, and sitting all morning under the bright sun on a crisp autumn day was lovely.  It was also a nice break from the walking tours.  

Spot the American

Our afternoon church, appropriately, was another of the great basilicas of Rome—Ste. Marie Majeure.

This is the mother of the Mary churches—the first to be constructed that honored her.  Her important role in the Catholic Church is evident throughout—in the beautiful mosaic, for example, where Christ shares a single seat with her and places his hand on her crown. 

We proceeded to the Spanish Steps

and Via Condotti for window-shopping.  

In the evening after gelato, we walked over to the French Embassy.  It is in a stunningly beautiful building.  The building is not open to the public but the inside lights illuminated the interior art and architecture.  Unfortunately, Don opted out of this tour and there is no picture.