The Vatican, Italy (St. Peter’s Square and the Pope)

22 May 2024 - The Vatican, Italy (St. Peter’s Square and the Pope)

We left the old center of Rome after 28 days or so of touring and checked in to a hotel closer to the Vatican for the last part of our Rome visit. The hotel is just one building over from St. Peter’s Square and the Vatican walls. We spent the afternoon walking around the square and getting ourselves oriented.

When we checked in, the desk staff told us that the Pope was holding his weekly audience the next day and gave us free tickets to attend. At first, I was ambivalent, because we had a long tour scheduled that afternoon and I wasn’t sure if we could do both. But our tour guide rescheduled our meetup time to a bit later and we decided to go.

We had an early start as the audience began at 9 am. I thought we would be herded into St. Peter’s Square, along with the thousands of other attendees and might get a glimpse of the Pope as a tiny white figure up on the area in front of the Basilica. But, we got vectored over to an area for the disabled and bypassed all the crowds. We were sent up a ramp which got us on the same level as the Pope’s podium and were seated about 100 feet away from him. We could only see the back of him, but I was thrilled. I have never been that close to a world icon!

After his address to the crowd, he came down from the podium (he is in a wheelchair nowadays). I thought he was going to exit and then we would be excused. That’s when I noticed that they had placed some groups on the steps behind the podium and he was going over to meet them. Groups of nuns, school children and special groups were able to say hello and get pictures. So I thought, that’s nice, now he will leave.

But then, he headed over to the first row in the area where we were seated. That’s when I started to get an inkling. We were in the sixth row and I was thinking, no way he is going to do all these rows. He did two rows, and then went back to the steps where they had replaced the original groups with new ones. Then, he came back to the area we sat in and did two more rows.

By now, I figured out there was a very good chance he was going to come up our row and I started freaking out about what would I say to THE POPE? A few minutes later and I shook the hand of the Pope! What an experience!

What to say when you meet the Pope? Russ told him he was honored to meet him.

Our hotel is in a palazzo. This is not as grand as ones we have visited, but it is very nice. A little garden in the middle of the building.

St. Peter’s Square, designed by Bernini in the 1600s. The large colonnades are designed to represent arms welcoming the people to the church. The size simply boggles the mind.

Bernini designed a fountain to match one that was already there. Not as grandiose as others he designed for Rome, but appropriate for the area. For you math nerds, the fountains are located at the foci of the ellipsis formed by the colonnades.

The colonnades are topped with sculptures of Church saints.

An Egyptian obelisk is in the center of the square. The Basilica and Square sit on top of what was Caligula’s circus, an area where events and competitions were held. Caligula brought the obelisk over from Egypt around 50 AD.

St. Peter, considered the first pope of the Catholic Church.

St. Paul, who was also martyred in Rome.

A view of the square looking back to the street and our hotel.

Swiss Guard guarding one of the entrances to the Basilica.

This monument was installed in 2019 and represents all those people who are united in the pain of immigration. Pope Francis wanted it on the square as a reminder to all of the church peoples’ call to hospitality and to love one another.