Wednesday General Audience (Ash Wednesday)

I often blog what the Pope says at his General Audience on Wednesdays, but I will never do so without the sense of what it is like to actually be there. Thanks to several people we knew that to get a good seat at the General Audience we needed to be there as soon as they allowed people in, around 8:00 a.m.(two and half hours before the audience begins, although one of our contacts told us that Benedict had been beginning them about a half hour early). So we were there, dressed for warm weather, because it was rather warm at the time. We found the shortest line and waited about ten minutes until the mad rush began. The security was fairly lax at the entrance point that we were at, police with wands, but not really using them. So once through the entrance we ran (sort of the way people were running through the columns when Pope Benedict was about to be announced as the successor of St. Peter last year).
We were able to get to the fourth row right against the center rail, which turned out to be a pretty good spot. The two men sitting in front of me were from Brazil, I think the people behind us were from Ireland. There was a group from Steubenville near us, as well as the St. Thomas folk who were just behind us.
Then it turned cool, the sun disappeared and the clouds covered the sky. The temperature must have dropped ten or fifteen degrees. I think Joseph fell asleep, as well as the baby and for the most part we sat in silence with some outbursts of enthusiastic groups now and then.
Ten o'clock arrived and we were hopeful that the pope might come out early, but not today. Then at ten thirty there was a commotion and suddenly there he was, well looking exactly like the pope! You can see how dark the skies were and the pope had on his winter coat. Pope Benedict has shunned the glass case that John Paul used after he was shot in 1981, when I saw Pope John Paul in Miami he was behind the glass of the popemobile when he drove through the streets of Miami,but then I saw him up close at Mass the next day (a Mass that wasn't finished because of a thunderstorm). I remember being shocked at how old Cardinal Ratzinger was when he celebrated the funeral of Pope John Paul, and even how he seemed bent with age as he entered the conclave to elect the new pope--but how youthful he emerged from the conclave!
Organ music is played as a background which gave the feeling of either a carnival or funeral but didn't seem to strike the right chord for the ceremony.
Now right after the Pope passed us the baby's bottle somehow dropped onto the pavement and went rolling down the path the pope had just passed. A Swiss Guard finally picked it up after it had rolled for what seemed like an eternity, and looked at it suspiciously. He finally walked over and handed it to me.
After making the circuit the Holy Father's pope mobile drives up the steps and then he gets out and goes to his chair...Then you hear something along the lines of:

Cari Fratelli e Sorelle,

Inizia oggi, con la Liturgia del Mercoledì delle Ceneri, l'itinerario quaresimale di quaranta giorni che ci condurrà al Triduo pasquale, memoria della passione, morte e risurrezione del Signore, cuore del mistero della nostra salvezza. Questo è un tempo favorevole in cui la Chiesa invita i cristiani a prendere più viva consapevolezza dell'opera redentrice di Cristo e a vivere con più profondità il proprio Battesimo. In effetti, in questo periodo liturgico il Popolo di Dio fin dai primi tempi si nutre con abbondanza della Parola di Dio per rafforzarsi nella fede, ripercorrendo l'intera storia della creazione e della redenzione.

Which I now know means:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, with the Ash Wednesday Liturgy, the Lenten journey of 40 days begins that will lead us to the Easter Tridium, the memorial of the passion, death and Resurrection of the Lord, heart of the mystery of our salvation. It is a favourable time when the Church invites Christians to have a keener awareness of the redeeming work of Christ and to live their Baptism in greater depth.

The audience continues with the pope teaching a lesson in Italian. At the conclusion various Monsignors in different languages greet the pope in the name of the various language groups present. Some groups when they are announced sing, some just cheer. The pope acknowledges them with a wave, then responds with a summary of his teaching in that language. This pope like John Paul before him is fluent in a number of tongues and it is interesting to hear him speak English.

Finally the Pope gives his Apostolic blessing, blessing religious articles also.

Then he greets the Cardinals and bishops present. At this audience there was one cardinal (I believe it is Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez the very Cardinal who announced to the world last year Habemus Papam!) pictured here in the piazza afterwards. Then the sick and handicapped are brought in wheelchairs before him, pushed by nuns for the most part, and he gives each of them a blessing. I'm not sure what the history of this is or for how long this has been done, but I found it to be one of the most poignant moments of the audience. There was a long parade of these crucified memembers of the Body of Christ and they evoked from the Marian prayer "do you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, in this valley of tears." The wisdom of giving these souls the privileged position at the audience and the primacy of a personal meeting with the pope was incredibly Christian--a great witness. Would that all in attendance learn to see in those marginalized the truly important.
After this the pope walked over to the barrier to the left at which were standing a group of Moslems and he greeted them and spoke to them and then worked down the line. At the end of this line he mounted the popemobile and then passed along the barrier on the right and shook hands as he went along. Then the popemobile made its way down the steps toward me. (Click on any image for a full size shot)
Until finally, there he was right in front of me.
So I put the camera down for a second or two. Then after I gave him a wave, I picked it up again just in time because someone handed him a baby.

Then he was gone, as Joseph would say "back to the Pope cave (ala batcave)." The thousands that had gathered began to disperse. Amy had more Rome Reports video to shoot, so she went with the kids for the outside shots. I was to meet with Jeffrey Kirby to take a walk up to the North American College for a tour and lunch. While waiting, I spotted another group gathered for the pope's audience, a group of Eastern monks.

Amy's Theology on Tap in Rome

In the National Catholic Register

My Early Morning Pilgrimage Stop

From Pope John Paul II's Official Beatification Site:

PRAYER FOR ASKING GRACES THROUGH THE INTERCESSION OF THE SERVANT OF GOD
POPE JOHN PAUL II

O Blessed Trinity
We thank You for having graced the Church
with Pope John Paul II
and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care,
the glory of the cross of Christ,
and the splendor of the Holy Spirit,
to shine through him.
Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy
and in the maternal intercession of Mary,
he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd,
and has shown us that holiness
is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life
and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you.
Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will,
the graces we implore,
hoping that he will soon be numbered
among your saints.
Amen.


With ecclesiastical approval

CARDINAL CAMILLO RUINI
the Holy Father’s Vicar General
for the Diocese of Rome



© Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Mardis Gras with St. Thomas (Feb. 28th)

We picked up General Audience tickets at the Bronze Door on Tuesday afternoon, only to discover that they weren't anything special in spite of being obtained from a very good source.
Tuesday evening we proceeded to catch the tram that would take us to the banks of the Tiber, near where the students of St. Thomas University studying in Rome reside. There were several others waiting for the tram and we waited there quite awhile when a man came over and said in Italian that we should get on the bus that had the same number (he motioned while speaking in Italian...I understood the motioning not the Italian). We got on the bus which slowly pulled out, drove slowly around the block and then the driver returned us to the same spot we had been standing for the past twenty minutes. Then the tram arrived (not sure what was going on) but we were happy to be headed in the right direction. Arriving at the spot with some clarification we found the St. Thomas students waiting for us at the gate.
What a great group of young people! Very zealous for the faith, living, studying and praying in Rome. The Roman Roamin was are gracious host and reading her blog you can get a great feel for what students in the program are experiencing.
We gathered for dinner and had our first crisis of the night when Joseph's little airplane's wheel fell off and like "Rachel bewailing her children" he could not be consoled and knocked over a glass of water. This made it a little difficult for me to catch up with Father Joseph Carolla who serves as a chaplain for the group, and used to teach with me at Jesuit High School in Tampa some years ago. Father now has his Doctorate in Patristics and teaches at the Gregorian. We compared war stories and caught up while Joseph continued to whine about the plane. Finally I found the missing wheel, and Father found a student who had crazy glue and the wheel was repaired, although the propellar and broken off in the process (this also was repared--funny I haven't seen that plane since we returned back to the states).
After a nice meal we gathered upstaires and Amy talked about the Da Vinci Code, I added a few lines about who Jesus was betrothed to and how that related to the Eucharist and Father Joe corrected me as was needed. Here is a picture from Mary's blog from the event:

Walking back to the tram, Father and I were able to catch up a bit more before he went in one direction and we in another.

Evening came, Day four.

Afternoon in Trastevere (Feb 28th)

We arrived a few minutes before we were scheduled to meet Charlie Collins of Vatican Radio and his esteemed group for lunch at the fountain in the Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere, so I decided to take a look in at Santa Maria's, just as I opened the door Charlie was walking out...so we went back with the rest of the family by the garden and took a quick tour of the Vatican's Pontifical Council buildings, residences and offices. Then to the restaurant where we were joined by:

Franciscan of the Holy Land Father David-Maria Jaeger, O.F.M., J.C.D., who currently is on the faculty of the Pontifical Athenaeum "Antonianum" in Rome, and is a member of the Delegation of the Holy See on the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the Holy See and the State of Israel. Father Jaeger was born of Jewish parents in Israel. He converted to Chrisianity and became a Catholic priest in 1986. He received his Doctorate in Canon Law (J.C.D.) in 1989.

Legionarie of Christ Father Kevin Lixey Head of Office for Church and Sport, the Pontifical Council for the Laity, fresh from the Winter Olympics in Turin or Torino.

National Catholic Register Rome reporter Edward Pentin, a native of Canterbury, England. He's also a great caricaturist and if you read The Tablet, you've seen his work.

Kishore Jayabalan formerly with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, now the head of the Rome office of The Acton Institute and a fellow blogger.

Elizabeth Lev who teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University’s Rome campus, gives great tours at the Vatican's museums and also does interviews for Zenit among other organizations including Our Sunday Visitor.

Opus Dei Father John Wauck, originally from Chicago, Harvard grad and former speech writer for Governor Casey, brother-in-law of FBI spy Robert Hanssen, blogger, and a priest teaching at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome and host of an EWTN show Mirror of the Soul.

A great crowd who greatly educated us in many matters of life in the Church in the Vatican. What a joy it was today (March 12th) back in the states to see a story on Rome Reports that featured Father Jaeger, immediately bringing to mind the excellent afternoon of conversation we enjoyed.
This was also our only real Italian meal with all the courses and a little wine to go with it--after all it was Fat Tuesday!
When it was all over we parted ways and Charlie took us into Santa Maria Trastevere, one of the most beautiful churches. Here again are the perfunctory blurry pictures:

This final image didn't come out very good, which is a shame it was Joseph catcing sight of many costumed children in the piazza outside of Sant Maria's--it was Carnivale and he didn't quite know what to make of it.
Charlie walked us out of Trastevere, across the Tiber to where we could catch a bus back to St. Peter's. Once we arrived back we made the perfunctory check of email at the Internet cafe, picked up some milk and water and headed back to the apartment to get ready for the evening visit with the American students from St. Thomas in MN who are studying in Rome.

Time Out! Congratulations to....

The Mighty Florida Gator Basketball Team, Southeaster Conference Tournament Champions!

Inside Saint Peter's (February 28th)

I was up bright and early on Tuesday morning and made my way with my breviary (a book containing the liturgy of the hours) to St. Peter's Basilica. I passed through security and made my way into the Church and found a priest offering Mass in English at the altar of Pope St. Leo the Great's tomb. I joined another man (who I do not think spoke English). We stood, knelt and received Holy Communion and the priest asked where I was from as he left with the chalice to return to the sacristy.
Next I went down the spiral stairs near the statue of Saint Andrew the Apostle to descend into the crypt and pray at the tomb of Pope John Paul II, as well as the tomb of the Apostle Peter (I usually prayed the rosary during this time). In the early morning there were few people in these spots, most were conected with groups saying mass at the different chapels. I then went up the same stairs and sat in one of the pews in front of the tomb of Blessed John XXIII and prayed the office for the day.
As I made my way back to the apartment, I made a usual stop for some expresso and to pick up some pastries to bring back for the others to have for breakfast. This morning I went into a different shop on the Borgo Pio. As soon as I entered there was the priest whose Mass I had attended earlier that morning. He was a Dominican and he told me that he taught at the Angelicum. He invited me to join him, but I told him that I was sure the family was probably waiting on me back at the apartment so I really should be going (at this point I didn't get his name, although I think he told me that he was originally from Missouri--I would meet him again).
I brought back the appreciated pastries by Katie and the baby, but rejected by Joseph who is an incredibly picky eater (he feasted on butter cookies bought the day before). Then we set out for the Gesu, a church we hadn't been able to find the day before in the rain, thankfully today the sun was shining brightly!
We stopped in at a couple of souvenir shops on our way to the bus stop and also into the Carmelite Church on the Via del Conciliazione Santa Maria in Traspontina, I said a short prayer before the altar of St. Barbara for my mother (would have another chance when we visited a church dedicate to the Saint later in the day. We ran into Sussana Pinto of Rome Reports who also writes for Our Sunday Visitor, she was there to attend Mass. Something that caught my attention in this church was a "liturgical calendar" that was kind of like a time clock. Here is a blury picture of it (I apologize but somehow my camera settings got messed up and I haven't learned to review them--well I have now, but hadn't then). We headed out to catch the Express bus.
The Gesu was exactly where it was supposed to be and one street over from where we had been searching for it the day before in the rain. But it is amazing how much easier it is to read a map, find the right street in the sunshine. Joseph gave a Euro to the beggar at the door (something by this time encouraged him to do, both as a form of almsgiving for our pilgrimage and to help him overcome youthful greed). Inside the Church, something truly amazing that a photo does not even begin to capture, but I'll post one that I found online of the Triumph of the Holy Name of Jesus (IHS)...what you don't pick up in the photo that is startlingly evidend in person is the 3-D quality of the ceiling; the heretics falling off to the side literally look like they are plunging down toward you--an absolutely fascinating image that one could spend hours meditating on. In In some ways you can kind of capture that in this photo, because the images descending look indistinct, sort of like you need 3-D glasses to focus the picture properly, but in reality you don't and this is an amazing catechetical lesson that what we see isn't always really what it is. We prayed at the tomb of St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis Xavier and took in the beauty of this church, one of my favorites!
Next we made our way to Largo Argentina near where Julius Caesar was murdered, where there are the ruins of pagan temples not made into churches and an investation of cats that are well taken care of by the local populace.
After a short viewing we made our way toward Campo de Fiori, which unlike the picture in the link, is actually quite crowded with vendors selling everything from fruits and vegetables to Bob Marley t-shirts. Perhaps the latter can be attribed to the spirit of Giordano Bruno who was burned at the stake here for declaring that there was no center of the universe--there obviously were as many individuals who thought that they were the center of the universe back then as there are today and unfortunately poor Giordano was as guilty of this sin as anyone.
Ahh but I'm getting ahead of myself, first we came upon a church. One of the non stop pleasures of a walk in Rome are the hundreds of churches that don't make the tour books, that you walk in and find to be three times as larges as the back home parish church and filled with art that would make the art museum back home world class.
Here we came upon San Carlo ai Cantinari a church that boasts the third largest dome in Rome next to St. Peter's and another church that we will visit in a second. "Carlo" is the Italian rendering of Charles, just as Karol is the Polish rendering of Charles--the Charles in this case being St. Charles Borromeo (Karol Wojtla's patron saint...really in English the Pope's name was Charles). Like all churches in Rome, fascinating.
While Amy, Katie and Joseph stopped for a snack, the baby and I paid a visit to my mother's patron Church, Santa Barbara dei Librai (St. Barbara of the books). I think I picked up a holy card at this church, but I've yet been able to find it (I still haven't unpacked).
Arriving at Campo de Fiori, I went and sat with the baby near the statue of Giordanno (I wonder if he inspired the frozen pizza of the same name). Amy bartered with a few merchants to buy some bloody oranges (not there real name but a description of the fruit covered with an orange peel, but blood red fruit inside--very appropriate in a plazza formerly dedicated to public executions).
Spying the dramatic twisted spiral roof of Sant' Ivo alla Sapienza we headed in that direction but ended up in Piazza Navona again. This time we made our way to Sant' Andrea della Valle, which has the second largest dome in Rome and which Charlie Collins said had the best incorupt saint--Saint Joseph Mary Tomasi, canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1986. Here are blurry pictures of both as well as Amy watching Michael walk toward me:


Here Amy and I tried to make a few phone calls with none of our intended callers answering the phone. I went into Sant' Agnese in Agone and took this picture of the skull of St. Agnes in a reliquary. This church was built on the site of an ancient brothel (Rome is filled with examples of how Christ conquers all)! The size of St. Agnes' skull bothered me--it was no bigger than a very small infant, the porter told me that it wasn't the entire skull but just part of it. If you look at the gold box you'll notice a little opening, that is where the skull of St. Agnes is.
Saint Frances of Rome (whose feast was a few days ago, was baptized here).
Meanwhile outside in Piazza Navona all kinds of frivolity was going on, including some sort of political rally. Italians will probably recognize these folks, but they were lost on us.It was then on to the Pantheon for a return visit (I posted the picture on the original Pantheon post) but here is one from inside and another from a short stop at St. Catherine's church again, this time in the sunshine it was possible to take some photos by the obelisk at least of the bottom of it:

Then it was off to Largo Argentina to catch the tram to Trastevere for lunch with the great communications leaders of the Vatican!