VIVE IL PAPA!!! Part II

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Today was Papal Audience Day and we had the day off from classes. First of all, you got to love that we get off for something like this! Second of all, WE GOT TO SEE THE FREAKIN' POPE!

We got out tickets last night at dinner which was basically a green 1/4 sheet of paper that said, according to Fr. Bohr, "you are cordially invited to tea with the Pope," along with 1100 of your closest fellow Christians. We really weren't given any other instructions, but decided that we would just follow the masses (get it? masses? church? oh, I need sleep...) the next morning.

Some people were absolutely crazy and left by 6:00 in the morning. I got up at six and left at the much more reasonable time of 6:45 and was there along w/ the rest of Loyola at 7:15. No one told us that we couldn't even get in until 8:30, so we chilled (literally, it was cold!) outside until then. I was a little disappointed we didn't have to elbow our way through the nuns, like I was told.

After security (of course) we were ushered into the audience hall and got great seats and waited for another two hours, but we were inside, sitting, with access to a free bathroom, so no complaining here.

Then, he came.

It was so surreal. He was probably 200 meters away. I say 200 meters because I have absolutely no idea and don't want to think about how the actual distance. He was flanked by the Swiss Guards, looking as sharp as always in their "costumes," as one friend said.

First was an opening blessing only in Italian. Then someone read a Scripture passage from Psalms in French, the next one read in English, the next in Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Russian.

Then came Roll Call. The priest who read in Italian would come back to the mic and announce who was there from French-speaking countries. Each group would stand and either cheer or sing and then the Pope would give a very short homily on the reading in French. The JFRC kids were panicking because we didn't have a song! It was so obvious that everyone else had been preparing for weeks to sing for His Holiness and we just stood up and looked at each other and cheered. Yay!!!! But really, it was awesome. He gave us a special blessing, and said he was praying for us and our loved ones, which is you guys! So you all were there in spirit!

After Roll Call, we sang the Our Father together in Latin while the Pope did his blessing over the objects (I brought my rosary Kate gave me from Kenya (Kenya? Belize? Peru?)) and we were done!

We headed to Old Bridge, the best gelato place in the city and then back to campus for lunch. I napped, obviously, and then here I am telling you all about my great adventures!

Highlights:
* My friends getting gitty with the cold and started to yell stuff like, "Look! Papal Pigeons!" while we were waiting outside
* The Austrians sitting in the section in front of us wearing what I liked to call "Von Trap hats" and yes. They sang.
* The Irish grade schoolers who apparently thought it would be a good idea to bring huge balloons than when they eventually popped, sounded like gunshots.
***** The. Traveling. Jugglers. Think Oceans 11 when they went to go get the Chinese guy. The face on the Pope was awesome after they were done. It was a combination of surprise and "what the heck was that?"