Here's Papa!

Today we went to my first papal audience. This was quite a fitting activity as it was the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter!

The journey to Saint Peter's was nothing short of a mini-pilgrammage. First we dashed over to the subway, fought with the ticket machine and then made a mad rush down into the bowels of Rome. When I heard that the subways here were crowded...I really had no idea. People are packed chest to chest into the train cars. You don't really need to hold onto anything because people are packed in so tight that you won't really move should there be a sudden jolt.

After a line transfer and more claustrophobic fun, we pried ourselves out of the subway cars and ran to St. Peter's square, which was still a ways away. Then we flew passed the line of people who are just standing in line, not knowing that they are not really standing in line for anything (suckers), over to security. We flashed the Swiss Guards our shiny orange tickets that you have to get the day before, and ran some more over to the Church.

By the time we got inside, we were all a mess. It was raining, so we were wet, and we had a ton of sweaters and jackets on, because it was cold. But all the running meant I was sizzling beneath my multiple layers. So, humbled in appearance, we chose the best seats we could get and said a rosary to calm down.

When papa came in, everybody cheered and screamed. He comes walking down an aisle to the high altar, and we were lucky enough to be able to push ourselves almost all the way to the inner aisle seats when he came in. I got some AMAZING video which shows how close we were, but unfortunately, I don't know how to upload it for viewing.

Papa proceeded to the altar, shaking hands and greeting people. He then said a bunch of stuff in Italian, I think the Our Father in Latin, and gave everyone his papal blessing on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter! Did I mention we saw him on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter?

The whole thing was over pretty quickly actually, and after a quick browsing of St. Peter's we went off to the Vatican book store. Turns out, right after the general audience, Papa announced the appointment of several new Cardinals...including Archbishop O'Maley and Archbishop LeVada!

Phewww. Quite a day so far...and we still have class to go to!