Friday, August 31, 2012

Here comes Pope Benedict XVI, standing in open air rolling through the crowds in Wednesday morning audience in St. Peter's Square.

Chapter 16 – Rome
The Pope in St. Peters Square

     We arranged our itinerary so as to have our first day in Rome on a Wednesday.
Each Wednesday at 10 am in St. Peter's Square, the Pope holds an audience with the people assembled in the square.
     It's June, and it's hot, even at mid morning.
     There are thousands of people here, the faithful coming to see the Holy Father and participate. As members of the Good Shepard Catholic Church in Tallahassee, our daughter and granddaughter left our apartment early to get a good seat in the reserved area.
     Then on schedule, a man in a bright red hat and white flowing robes appeared, standing in a cart, a cart being pushed through the crowds on assigned paths, surrounded by security guards.
     It was Pope Benedict XVI in person..
     It was electric, and if you can see by the photos accompanying this chapter, everyone had a camera, and as the Pope passed, all cameras were held in the air to get a picture.
     You probably have seen St. Peter's Square on TV during significant religious moments, such as Easter, when the entire St. Peter's Square is jammed with people, This event wasn't that crowded, but the faithful still number a few thousand.
As the pope left his cart and mounted the steps of the church, he sat under a canopy, and a priest changed his red hat for a white one, then he delivered a greeting in several languages to the assembled.
     When the Pope was in his cart, I was at the rail as he passed, and snapped some great closeups. Although not Catholic myself, but having grown up in Catholic families, the event still was meaningful. So here you are, in front of one of the greatest cathedrals in the world, standing in the square of one of the greatest historical locations in the world, and one of the greatest men of peace passes in front or you.
     How impressive is that?
     Let's talk about the popes. I'll take these next few paragraphs from the book, Insight Guides to Italy, facts and figures on the popes.
     “There have been 263 popes. The shortest reign of a pope was that of Stephen II, who died four days after his election in March 752. At the other extreme, the 19th century's Pius IX, famous for his practical jokes and his love of billiards, headed the Holy See for 32 years. The youngest pope on record, John XI, was just 16 when he took the helm in 931; the oldest, Gregory IX, managed to survive 14 years after his election in 1227 at the age of 86.
     While the great majority have been of either Roman or Italian extraction, Spain, Greece, Syria, France and Germany have all been represented, and there has been at least one of African Birth (Miltiades, 311-14), and one hailing from England (Hadrian IV, 1154-9). John Paul II was the first Pole to lead the Catholic Church. At least 14 popes abdicated or were deposed from office. Ten popes met violent deaths, including a record three in a row in the 10th century.”
     As we sat there in St. Peters Square, I had my 26 power lens on the camera, and panned around the statuary atop the colonnades later to learn that the figures are of former saints, members who set examples for the love of God. Also, on the church itself, on the top of each side of the facade, there are clocks, perfectly in sync with one another.
     I also learned that in ancient times, this area was part of the Roman circus, where chariot races were held, and executions, including St. Peter on the site where his church would stand in subsequent future centuries. The obelisk is from Egypt brought to Rome in 37 AD by Emperor Caligula. It's a sundial too, a solar symbol communicating with the devine.
     On this day, the only chariot was the pope's cart, winding its way through the crowds—twice.
     Some details on the colonnades. Actually, it's an elliptical space, with 284 Doric columns, four deep. The space was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and constructed between 1657-1667 during the pontificates of Alexander VII and Clement IX.
     Piazza San Pietro (St. Peters Square) is part of Vatican City, 100 acres of the world's smallest independent sovereign entity, as small as new York City's Central Park.