Encountering (His) Holiness

Well, I toyed with the idea of keeping this a secret until I returned home, but as you'll soon find out, I decided against the idea in the end.

Last Wednesday, since my Wednesday class finished a week ago, I decided to go to the Papal audience held in St. Peter's Square. Now, perhaps it's unfair in the minds of some, but if you're a priest or seminarian or religious, it's pretty easy to get tickets for the "reparto speciale," the seating section that is right up close to the Holy Father. As some of you may remember, I snagged some of these tickets last year around this time, and had the privilege of meeting Pope Benedict in person as a result. So I thought I'd give it another try this year, since I don't usually have the option of attending the Wednesday audiences.

I arrived early again, around 7:00 -- the audience begins at 10:30. There were already about a hundred people in line, and it was growing by the minute. There was a large (and obnoxious) group from someplace in Italy. [Side note: Italian pilgrimage groups can be spotted from a mile away . . . and it's best to keep that distance between you and them!] There were several Americans there, too. Around 8:00, movement in the line gave the impression that the gates into the Square were opening. However, it was only the Italian officers letting the crowd into another waiting area, giving everyone a false sense of hope. The gates opened at 8:30, and after enduring a lot of pushing and shoving, we (two other seminarians and I) made our way into the Square and headed for the reparto speciale.

Since there are two entrances to the Square on Wednesday mornings, and we entered on the side farthest from our destination, there were a lot of people who got there before we did. So we ended up in the third row instead of the front row where we wanted to be (and where we'd be guaranteed spots along the railing for when the Pope went by). Nevertheless, third row seats ain't bad! And, as long as you know when to make the move, you can still make it to the railing from the third row when the time comes.

So we sat and waited, and studied for the exam we took this morning (Saturday), and visited with the people around us who spoke English. There was a couple from Miami with their son and daughter; there was also a group of three ladies from Kansas and North Dakota sitting behind us. To our left there were some Carmelite nuns from Canada. Two hours actually passed fairly quickly.

The audience was like most of the Pope's other Wednesday audiences. This time he spoke (in Italian, French, English, Spanish, German and Polish) about his trip last week to Poland. At the end of the audience, after the blessing, he received all the bishops present, as normal, and then proceeded to walk along the railing on the opposite side from where we were seated. There was still hope that he would come to our side. But then the driver of the popemobile parked it so that the Pope could get in it once he reached the end of the rail he was following. That meant he would not be walking our way. However, the popemobile went by very slowly, and the Pope reached out and shook hands and gave his blessing to all the people. One of the other guys and I made it to the railing, and we both got to shake his hand. It wasn't a very personal encounter -- I don't think he even really looked at me while I was shaking his hand -- but it is still pretty awesome to shake the hand of the Successor of St. Peter. I haven't checked out the photos yet. I'll have to do that next week.

Other than that, there's not much exciting news. I'll be home in about ten days, and man am I gonna love it!

I've got four more exams (two oral, two written) over the next 10 days, which isn't bad at all. There should be plenty of time to prepare for them, and no major worries.

That's it for now. Good night!