Rome

Set off to walk to the Vatican at 9.15am with the Bishop. For first-timers in Rome like me, it’s quite awesome to walk through narrow, side streets, then round a corner and find yourself staring at this huge spectacle of St Peter’s Square and the Basilica. Again, like Gallipoli, I’ve seen hundreds of photos of this space and now realise photos don’t convey size nor do they convey relationships between elements of the space. So what do I do? Put in a photo of St Peter’s Square of course! But this is simply to explain the next stage of the story.

The Bishop had organised tickets for us (red ones which meant nothing to us) so we scout around way back in the middle of the square looking for somewhere to sit, but the Bishop suggests we look closer because he believes the red tickets are for seats closer to the action. Before I go on just check the photo.

In the front of the steps you can just see the canopy under which the Pope sits for this intimate conversation or audience with about 15,000 people each Wednesday. Just to the right of the canopy are some seats! Right, you guessed it. As we started to show these red tickets, we kept being shuffled forward until we end up sitting 10 – 12 rows back from Benny and his mates.

Quite a view.
Groups of visitors are acknowledged in each of the major languages, so when they got to English speaking nations and Australia - ‘Principals from the Diocese of Lismore in NSW’ got a mention, then it caused a reaction. We let ‘em know where we were sitting. A motley crew, some might argue! The Bishop, with other bishops present then lined up and filed past the Pope for individual greetings at the end.

The Lismore Crowd
After the ‘audience’ which lasted about 75 minutes, we lined up for entry to the Basilica. Yes, again, I know all of you have seen photos before, so I hear you say - don’t do it again! – but I must - just one inside the church. It is overwhelming in size, but I suggest you google for other photos and better ones than I can take. Try these!

It is spectacular and a sight you need to experience rather than read about. Every art work has a story. Shame about the Pieta, now behind glass since that lunatic took to it with a hammer some years back. Some aspects are a bit tacky, such as the embalmed bodies on display and the marks in the marble floor down the middle to show that the basilica is bigger than other churches. I guess it felt more like a museum than a church. It did not feel like a place of prayer with flashing tourists, including ourselves, everywhere.

The crypt or tombs underneath were more tourist friendly than I thought they would be. St Peter’s crypt looked impressive, but the fun police were more vigilant in this area and got snaky if you took photos. Cannot understand why, so most of us took some and then looked apologetic afterwards. I can understand flashlight damaging colours in art works etc, but a stone crypt?

As we exited the Basilica, the Bishop showed us a stone wall plaque listing bishops involved in some decision about the status of Mary taken about 1950. Guilford Young’s name was on there so I had to get a photo of that (as did the Bishop), since my last appointment in Hobart 1995-1999 was Deputy at Guilford Young College. Quite a thrill to see that. I should check tomorrow for Tom Cahill, if time permits, but I don’t think he was a bishop in 1950. (Added later: Oops, got it wrong. He was consecrated a bishop in February 1949 and what's more, his name is on this same plaque, up and to the right. Can see it in some video footage I took, but did not get a 'still' photo of it. Perhaps next time!)

After this long session from 9.15 till about 2pm without food or water, some of us took to the streets and found sustenance, while other hardy souls walked to the Coliseum etc. I think the Coliseum has to go on the list of things to do next trip, probably along with the Trevi Fountain, the Sistine Chapel etc.

Mass late this afternoon was celebrated in the Church of Sancta Maria in Trastevere. It was impressive to say the least and combined a lot of the early church iconography with later art works more familiar to Latin rite churches. I had a photo but can’t find it now. Outside was a lovely square (piazza?) which was coming alive about 6.45pm after Mass.

The streets are a fascination in this area. They wander in any direction with no obvious layout as a product of their development and growth over centuries. Narrow, cobbled streets (no good for high heels) with two to four storey buildings either side and little pockets or piazzas of restaurants, coffee shops and pubs. We found one on the way back from Mass run by an Irish guy who was good fun. He'd named the place 'The Guinness Pub' but was out of the brew!

Another birthday! Today it’s Greg Ryan’s so any reason for a drink! We did the usual thing and tried very hard to embarrass Greg at dinner with the usual carefully moderated and harmonised tune. Happy Birthday Greg!

I thought parking in Greece was chaotic. Here it is more structured, in a way. They just make cars smaller so they can fit anywhere! We saw quite a few ‘Smart’ cars parked this way.