Day #262 - Rome & Vatican City

Wednesday General Audience - Pope's Blessing

Pantheon - hole in ceiling of Dome

Pantheon

Pope's Blessing

Pope Benedict XVI - 83 years old

Pope - on arrival into the Hall

Wednesday, December 1st

This morning we got to do something pretty special. We took the metro back over to the Vatican - arriving right at 9am. On Wednesdays, the Pope comes out and gives a blessing to the people at 10:30am. Generally, this is held in St. Peter's Square during the peak season. The Square accomodates the large numbers of people. Today, because of the rainy weather, the general audience was moved indoors to the Hall of Pope Paul IV (located to the left of St. Peter's Basilica - as you face the Basilica from the Square).

We had to get a ticket on-site to enter the Hall. We were lucky and met no line as we obtained our ticket. We entered the Hall around 9:30am. The crowd starting gathering inside - but the Hall was only 1/2 filled when the Pope entered.

A number of Cardinals were seated on the stage in anticipation of the Pope's arrival. (There's currently 199 Cardinals in the Catholic Church). The Pope entered and was seated in the middle of the stage. The ceremony was 1 hour in length. It involved the Pope reading prayers and speeches in a number of different languages. (The current Pope speaks 10 languages). The main languages being English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portugese, and Polish.

After each reading, one of the cardinals (or archibishops, etc) would read through the list of group attendees from the specific areas where these languages would be spoken. After announcing a group, the group would stand and cheer. Often times, they would wave their country flag. A few times, they even had a prepared song that they sang to the Pope. This was slightly bizarre - it was almost like a pep rally at a big football game. The Pope would acknowledge the group and clap after the singing when appropriate.

At the conclusion of the audience, the Pope offered a blessing for everyone in attendence. I could only understand about 5 minutes of his talks today while he spoke English - but very interesting to see nonetheless. A couple things I noticed in the hour ceremony: The Pope looked very weak and frail. I guess I haven't really kept up with him -- he is 83 years old. He was the 5th oldest person to be elected Pope. (You must be under the age of 80 to be elected.) Also, it was amazing to see him speak all the different languages. Impressive to switch gears that quickly. I read his biography - pretty impressive fella.

After we left the Vatican, we walked over to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is the most preserved monument in the Roman world. It was built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome. It was first built in 27 BC by Augustus and then restored in 130 AC by Adrian. In 609, the Byzantine Emporer Foca donated Pantheon to Pope Bonifacio IV, who dedicated it to the Virgin Mary and all Martyrs, giving it the name of Basilica of S. Maria ad Martyers. It stands as a Basilica today, an impressive building with a huge dome - with a circular opening to the outdoors.

We next walked around more of the streets of Rome - taking in some of the side areas we had yet to visit. We again ended the day late afternoon back at our hotel. I got in a quick run (the first one in a month), and then we had a nice dinner around the corner. Back now, reading the 2nd volume of the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson - "The Girl who Played with Fire".

Onward to Naples tomorrow - good night from Rome.