Pentecost Papal Parade by Popemobile

Well, 'parade' is probably the wrong word, but I liked the alliteration.

At the end of Mass on Pentecost, the Pope greets the people on the Popemobile.  Below is a very short video at the very end of the route, as Pope Francis heads back into Vatican City.

Pentecost Sunday

This year was a beautiful and bright Sunday for the feast of Pentecost in Rome.  They usually need a lot of priests and deacons (and occasionally, seminarians) to help distribute communion.  Like every Vatican event, this requires a ticket.  So, I was able to obtain one, as I did for the Easter Sunday Mass.  There were far fewer dignitaries at this Mass than there were for Easter, so I was able to sit much closer to the Pope than I did for Easter Mass.  Here was my view for the Mass:

I thought at Easter they had far too few priests helping with the distribution of Holy Communion.  For the Mass at Pentecost, they had way, way too many.  There must have been 200 priests, deacons, and seminarians distributing Holy Communion.  For Mass, we sit together up near where the altar is.  During the offertory for Mass, we are taken into St. Peter's Basilica.  This time we went in a line to the Immaculate Conception chapel, where they had prepared hundreds of ciboria with hosts.  The are rather plain brass ciboria.  The innovation is that they have a clear plastic top that revolves.  This allows you to see how many hosts are there.  You can also slide a top piece to create an opening, and then slide it back to cover everything in the ciborium and keep them safe from the elements.

We then stand in the Basilica for the Mass, holding the ciboria with the hosts for the consecration.  Towards the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, we are brought outside to take our place among the 200,000 or so people gathered for Mass.  Some of the people distributing have guides with yellow and white umbrellas to show them where to go.  I just followed the line until one of the Italian staff pointed to a place by the barricades for me to distribute.  Then you give out as many hosts as possible.

To minimize the chances for desecration--accidental or intended--communion is given out only on the tongue, with the Latin verse Corpus Christi.  So, you have lots of people sticking their hands at you, and you have to tell them only on the tongue.  (And I also make the men remove their hats first).  This means they have to get close for me to be able to give them communion.  The problem is when you give communion at the barriers that mark the route of the Popemobile.  People want to be right at the barricade to get the best view of the Pope when he goes by--and they do not want to give up their spot.  So people behind them want to receive communion, but the people with their spots at the barricade will not move out of the way.  The most creative solution I saw was the family that simply ducked to get out of the way, and still keep their spot.

Here are the pictures from Mass at St. Peter's:

Buona Pasqua!

My very belated collection of pictures from Easter Mass at St. Peter's.  For Masses like this, the Vatican organizes about 150 priests and deacons to help distribute Holy Communion.  You cannot concelebrate, but you do assist at the Mass.  To take part, you have to have a ticket and a letter of good standing.  I have the latter, and was able to get the former.  So, I went down to St. Peter's to distribute communion.  The instructions they give us are two:  We us the Latin phrase (Corpus Christi) rather than Italian or other vernacular, and communion may be given only on the tongue.  Having confronted the crowd of people wanting communion (250,000) and the very limited number of hosts, this is the only way to preserve proper reverence for the Sacrament.

I do not take pictures during Mass--and obviously could not bring my regular camera.  These are just with a phone camera and are either right before or right after the Mass.

New Pope in Pictures

A quick posting of all the pictures I took from the election.  Pray for Pope Francis!

Habemus Papam!

To be in Rome for a Papal election is a great grace, as spiritually uplifting as it is exciting.  Yesterday certainly proved so for me.

Last night I was assigned to celebrate the conventual Mass at the Basilica of San Clemente—our Priory church—here in Rome.  I had been watching the news, and by the time Mass started at 6:30 Rome time, I knew there was no smoke from the Sistine chimney yet.  But, I knew that the later it got, the more likely we would get smoke.  It usually takes about a ½ hour to say Mass, meaning it would end around 7:00pm, just at the time the next smoke was expected.  But that morning the smoke was 20 minutes early, so I was afraid we’d have a Pope in the middle of my Mass.

I did my best not to rush Mass—at least not to rush it too much!  I think most people were in the Square or watching events on the television, as there were very few of the faithful for Mass.  I ended up concluding Mass in a bit under 30 minutes.  As soon as I finished, I cleaned up after Mass, locked the Basilica, turned out the lights, grabbed my cappa and camera and made for the bus.  It was about 7:05pm in Rome.  Seconds after stepping out of the doors of the Priory, I received a text to my phone.  It was one word, but spoke volumes: “White!”  I began to quicken my pace.

As I got out of our garden and onto the street, I spotted one of my confreres coming off the Tram.  I told him the smoke is white, and that I was grabbing a cab.  He quickly followed.  Fortunately, there is a major taxi stop in front of a hotel down the street and around the corner from us.  The brother and I—neither of us in top athletic form—ran for the taxi stand.  There was, praise God, a line of cabs waiting.  As we climbed in the first I breathlessly exclaimed: “Fumata Bianca!  Andate a San Pietro!”  (White Smoke!  Go to St. Peter’s!).  As I said before, I was never more thankful for crazy Roman cabbies.

The first ballot. . . Black Smoke!

So I took the bus down to St. Peter's Square.  Some sisters from the Community of the Lamb (a wonderful group of sisters) were at the bus stop, and I rode down with them.  We joined up with some American seminarians when we switched buses.

There were lots of people flowing into the square, and the journalists were like vultures descending on the crowds.  The Piazza was much fuller than it normally is on a Tues. at 7:00pm, but it wasn't packed.  I think most people figured the Pope would not be elected tonight.

A middle-aged Italian woman came up to ask to talk.  The Italians rarely have trouble talking with strangers. She said a few interesting things.  I asked if she wanted an Italian Pope.  Her response: "Basta!" (Enough!)  There really is a sentiment among the Italians that their country is broken.  Although not so much in the press, the current political situation in Italy is in absolute turmoil with no clear party ready to run the government.  There is almost a despair among the Italians about their own future, and their inability to be trusted with the workings of the Vatican.  They see their political leaders as corrupt, untrustworthy, and without a concern for the common good of the people.  So, when I asked her who she wanted, she emphastically said an American--"Il Cappuccino " (the Capuchin).  She wanted Cardinal O'Malley.  There remains a great love for the Italians of the Franciscans, especially because of St. Padre Pio, the 20th century priest and mystic.  There is also a sense of the humility and simpleness of the Capuchins, especially O'Malley, that the Italians find very attractive.  It didn't hurt that there was apparently a picture in the Italian Press of Cardinal O'Malley giving bread to the poor.

She also said that her pastor was not in favor of an American Pope.  Why?  Because of the danger of the CIA!  As is often said, the Italians have never heard a conspiracy theory that they're not willing to believe.  The juicer the gossip, the more they want to hear!

She was also Roman and a long-time Papal watcher.  She said that they never elect in the morning, always in the afternoon.  So, if the past is any guide, don't expect white smoke in the morning.

The smoke came much later than was expected.  Fr. Lombardi had thought that it would come around 7:00pm.  It didn't come until about 7:40pm.  I'm not sure if we should expect the same for the remaining days, or whether this was just a first day glitch.

Anyway, here are the pictures of the smoke and the smokestack.  There are also a few of the Loggia, prepared for the new Pope's entrance, and a few of the Piazza.

Ticket to the Papal Audience

I meant to post this before.  Above is an image of the tickets to get you into the final General Audience on Wednesday, Feb. 27.  This was, of course, the Pope's last public audience in Rome before his resignation came into effect.

Benedict XVI's Last Audience

Tomorrow is Pope Benedict XVI's last audience.  I hope to be there and will tweet from there.  You may follow me at @PiusOP.  Now, in the U.S., at major events the cellphone companies set-up portable cell towers to handle the excess demand.  I don't think they do that in Italy.  So, that means I probably won't get much of a cellphone signal there, and the tweets will come only after people have dispersed.  I plan to post pictures and things when I get home later in the day tomorrow.

Scenes from St. Peter's Square

I took some video of some of the people enjoying a mostly sunny, but slightly chilly, afternoon at St. Peter's Square.  The crowds were out in force for the Pope's final Angelus.  The mood in the Square was upbeat and joyful, and with a great amount of affection for our Holy Father.

The Pope's Final Angelus

Here are some pictures from the final Angelus prayers of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.  The Pope celebrates the Angelus every Sunday at noon from the window of his Papal apartments overlooking the Piazza of St. Peter's Basilica.  The text of the Pope's reflections before the Angelus may be found at the Vatican website.  There, you can also watch a video of the Pope's reflection and prayers.

Vatican Christmas Creche 2012

I was in St. Peter's square this past weekend, when the crowds were much reduced.  As such, I was able to get some good pictures of the elaborate Christmas Creche in the Piazza.  (I wrote a little about it here.)  You don't get a good sense of dimension here, but the figures are rather small, perhaps about 6 or 7 inches tall, although the whole display is quite large. 

Christmas at St. Peter's

One of the priests and I went to St. Peter's for Solemn Vespers (Evening Prayer) for Christmas.  They had a very good choir, including a small orchestra with brass and tympani.  It was very beautiful.  Well, I didn't get any pictures of Vespers.  But I did get pictures of the creche scenes at St. Peter's.  There are always 2:  one in the Piazza and and one inside the Basilica.

The outdoor one was given from the Basilicata region of Italy.  It incorporates architecture and styles of the  Lucani, an Italian tribal people who pre-date the Romans.  Zenit has an article on the outdoor creche here:  Artistic Nativity Creche in Saint Peter's Square.

The inside one is a bit simpler than last year.  Apparently last year, they rigged it up so that fake snow would drop down on the creche scene.  This year they just had changing lights to give the impression of day and night.  There were a few animatronic figures, a fisherman with his pole and string and a shepherd raising and lowering his hat.

First Vespers of Advent

The Holy Father celebrated the first Vespers of Advent with university students from throughout Rome.  As they did last year, the event begins before the Pope arrives with an icon of Sedes Sapientiae (Mary, Seat of Wisdom).  The icon travels around different schools.  This year, the icon was brought in procession by some Italian university students.  After Vespers, it was taken out by students from Brazil.  The reason it is Brazil is because Brazil is the site for the next World Youth Day.

The Holy See takes videos of most of the papal events.  You can see their video here. 

The Pope's homily was in Italian, and is not yet available in English.  Among other things, he reminded the students that their desire for God is best satisfied in that place where God makes himself closest to us, in the Liturgy:

The liturgy, seen in its true spirit, is always the fundamental school to live the life of Christian faith, a "theological" faith that involves your entire being--spirit, soul, and body--to make you become living stones in the construction of the Church and collaborators in the New Evangelization.  In a particular way, in the Eucharist, the living God makes himself so near, by making himself the food that sustains us on the way, the presence that transforms with the fire of his love.

Here are the pictures from Vespers: