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Published: April 26th 2015
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Back in January we contacted the Bishop's Office for U.S. Visitors to the Vatican and were able to secure tickets to a Papal Audience with Pope Francis.
We would like to give a big shout out to the Bishop's Office generally, and to Father Matt in particular. When we picked up our tickets for the audience, Father Matt, a 25 year old seminarian from Florida, instructed us to "get near the wooden crowd control barriers if you want to get up close to the Pope." We followed his advice to great success ... as you can see from the photos.
Our audience with the Pope was an amazing experience, but as often happens, the journey was as much fun as the audience itself.
First, as it turns out, a Papal Audience is not an intimate little affair where you have tea and chat with the Holy Father. It is, in fact, a massive event for tens of thousands of people in the middle of St. Peter's Square (hence the wooden crowd control barriers).
Father Matt counseled us to arrive well before the 7:00 a.m. opening of the gates, so at about 6:30 a.m. we walked into the
square. we took our place very near the front of the line, pleased with our positioning. Little did we know that we were going to have to fight to hold that position from brazen line-jumpers, with no respect for the concept of "first come, first serve."
And who exactly were these line-jumpers?
Were they an obnoxious group of teens challenging conventional authority? No!
Were they smelly backpackers? No!
Clueless foreigners with no respect for common western courtesies? No!
Nope, we had to fight to hold our position against a very rude group of elderly Italian ladies who were determined to get to the front of the line.
We watched as they approached. Pushing and shoving their way through the line, and were amazed that people were letting them pass. These ladies would certainly have line-jumped their way all the way to the front if they had not run into an immovable force of nature ... Jeanne Femrite.
When they reached our position, Jeanne grabbed hold of a concrete post and would not let them pass. Karen, with the help of a firey Mexican gal, admonished these old Italian women to behave themselves. Needless
to say, the line-jumping stopped.
But Jeanne's work was not done.
When the gates finally opened, they let us in a few people at a time. Small groups were admitted, "wanded" and had their bags searched.
Jeanne was the only one to get in with the first group. Once she passed security, Jeanne took off like the track star she once was .... throwing elbows and pulling hair as she raced to a spot along the wooden barrier at the front right corner of square. Perfect Positioning!!!
The rest of us ultimately joined Jeanne ... and now all we had to do was to was wait for the Pope (who probably still asleep).
Now all we had to do was wait. It was 7:00 a.m. and the audience did not start until 9:30 a.m.
Because of our proximity to the stage, we were very near the Swiss Guard. The Swiss Guard is an elite force of former Swiss army soldiers who participated in a highly competitive process to become part of the private security force for the Pope. Because the Swiss Guard is over 600 years old, their uniforms were originally designed by Michelangelo.
But don't let the renaissance costumes fool you. They are all wired with earpieces and microphones and the Uzis are discreetly hidden, but nearby.
We got some great photos of the guard as they checked the tickets of arriving guests.
We laughed as two young women shoved their tickets into the hand of one of the Swiss Guard ... a tall, particularly good looking young man, who at first rolled his eyes at the other guards, silently telegraphing the message "what do they think I am? A ticket taker?" And then he looked again and noticed that there were telephone numbers written on the backs of the tickets. He laughed and we laughed. I am sure he was thinking 'a man needs some "downtime" after a hard day of guarding the Pope.
When Pope Francis finally arrived it was a shock. He came racing into the square in an open jeep. His arrival was so sudden and he was so close to us, that we almost missed taking photos (Jeff did miss his well planned video). The Pope was about three feet away from us. Amazing, thrilling.
Once he made his trip around the square, Pope Francis mounted the stage and gave a little lesson. That lesson was then repeated in about 10 different languages.
When the service was over, the Pope lingered for a long time and blessed a group of the sick, elderly and less fortunate ... blessing and talking to them each individually. Inspiring.
Tomorrow onto Tuscany. Stay tuned.
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Helen kinney
non-member comment
Determination/pope
What an amazing experience! Love these blogs.