Beatification of Pope John Paul II: The View from the Street

I won't tell you all about the Papal Liturgy or the Important Speeches or the Big Media Coverage.  I will tell you my experiences on the streets of Rome this weekend, focusing on my time at, or getting to, the main events:

*The Vigil: Saturday, 30 April.
*The Beatification: Sunday, 1 May.



The Vigil: Saturday, 30 April.

First vespers of the Octave of Easter.  7 pm.  Gold cope, Haec Dies, etc.

Quick supper, then I leave Collegio San Norberto with Fr. Martin and frater Alan at 8 pm.   Short walk to the Circus Maximus.  That's the Circo Massimo in Italian.  Or just Circo.  Pronounced "cheerko".  The Ben-Hur chariot racetrack.  But it's just a grassy park now. 

About 8:10 on the southeast end, we walk around to the left up the sidewalk.  Starting to get dark.

People!  The Circo is already pretty full.  There's a fence all around, with openings here and there.  Do you want to enter here?  No, we'd be too far back, let's keep going. 

Media vans with generators.  A big stage set up at the far end.  Other folks are circling also, looking for a good spot.  Music coming from the loudspeakers near the how many? at least six huge screens in the Circo.  Festive atmosphere.

Behind the stage, too close to see, over toward St. Anastasia.  Walking down the north side, about 8:20 pm we enter about halfway down, near the red cross first aid tent.  Thousands.  The floor below and the slopes around are full of folks of all ages.  Lit by candlelight. 

Folks at a van are giving out free boxed dinners.  Crackers, juice box, apple.  We just ate, so we'll leave them for other hungry pilgrims.  Pilgrims from all over.  At least some must be Hungarian.  

A choir of  Filipinas sings Ave Maria on the stage.  

We find a decent spot on the top of the slope, hard to see the stage, but the screens are good. 

An Italian lady talks a lot in between acts.  That's okay.  Circus Maximus.

There's the French nun cured by John Paul II.  She seems nice.  8:45-9 pm interview with the Italian lady, through a translator. 

Another choir.

The crowd is fairly orderly.  I guess friendly is a better word.  We'll see how they feel tomorrow after staying up all night, jostling for spots at St. Peter's.  I bet a lot will march straight over there after this vigil to set up camp.  

Teenagers, Gen Xers.  The JP2 Generation!  A few old folks, too.  Some who even remember previous popes.  

Fr. Martin is trying to phone someone  back at the Abbey in California.  No answer.  It must be right before lunch time over there.  We're at the Circo Massimo, there're thousands of people here, with candles, huge screens set up, et cetera.  They'll like that message.

Flags of various nations.  Brazil, Mexico, Vatican, some I don't recognize.  

9 pm.  Another choir.  Polish.

The Circo is really full now.

Many religious brothers, sisters, priests, seminarians.

Young folks on the screen saying JP2 is cool.  Yeah, we know that.  
 

9:10. Cardinal Stanislaus, Pope John Paul's secretary, interviewed.  Cardinal Stanislaus?  Yes, I know.

A lot of red and whites flags.  I wonder what country those are from?

9:12. A sprinkle of rain.

9:20. Cardinal Stanislaus is done.  

I put on my long black rain coat.  I think I look cool.  Like Neo.

This orchestra has a tenor singing.

Where were you when you heard JPII died?  I was in the archive room at St. Michael's Abbey in OC, reading St. Thomas Aquinas' Commentary on Aristotle's De Caelo in Latin from the Marrietti edition for a paper I was writing for philosophy class.  The prior came in and asked if I knew how to toll the bell.  I said huh? or something like that.  He explained why.  But someone else tolled the bell. 

Cigar smoke is not too bad out of doors, and seems to fit the context.  But now I smell pipe smoke, which is even better.  

9:25 pm. Another orchestra, with a choir, conducted by a bishop.

There's still a mist coming down.

Some chatter, but most folks are listening.

More flags waving.  France, Italy.

9:32.  A pack of Italian teenagers looking for a spot passes us by.

9:37 pm. The rain has stopped.

They mentioned a rosary, but that cardinal is still talking.  Nice white stole.

My feet hurt.  You have not yet begun to stand for long periods of time without possibility of relief!

There are only more people now.

Still foggy above, but clear at ground level.  A cool breeze.  In this crowd, it's nice.

An elderly religious sister hobbles past.

I can hear but not see the helicoptors circling above.

The Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary!

Pater Noster in Latin.
1^st decade led in Polish, responses in Latin.

A different leader for each Ave, including St. Faustina.

Now a choir is singing to Jesus.

Another orchestra thing.

Will they continue the rosary?

2^nd decade.

Each decade is introduced in various major languages.

Africans singing. I can't understand.

Pater in Latin.  I can understand.  Just sayin'.

Aves led by Africans.

Response in every language!

The gloria at the end of each decade is sung in Latin the same way as in Lourdes.

African ululations.

I can't identify the language.

Another orchestra thing.  10:15 pm.

3^rd mystery.

A Semitic language.

Response in Latin.  Everybody knows the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be in Latin.

The group next to us have a nifty flaming torch on a spike.  They relight it.

Folk music in a foreign language.

A bishop conducts the orchestra again.

10:27 pm.

4^th decade.

Guadalupe!

Images and video of JP2 in Spanish at Guadalupe.

Mexican kids!  Leading the Aves in Spanish.

10:40 pm.

Mexican choir!

 

5^th mystery

Fatima in Portuguese.

10:51.  The floodlights go out. Candles.  Just candles.

Pope Benedict!  On the screen.  I think it's broadcast from the Vatican.

He prays in Italian.

He blesses us in Latin.

The Hebdom Lady talks fast in Italian, but people don't listen.  They're leaving.

After the Pope, they split.

Traffic jam walking back to the Collegio.  I love it.

The Beatification: Divine Mercy Sunday in Albis, May Day of St. Joseph the Worker.

Sunday Lauds at 6:30 am.

Breakfast. 

At 7:30 am we leave the house. Father Martin and frater Alan and I.  Nobody's around.  Well, it's a Sunday morning.  The action is all on the other side of the river. 

Turn right down Viale Giotto, cross the empty street, hop down the stairs in the Wall, over toward Pyramide.  That's the pyramid-shaped tomb of some old emperor.  We want to take the train from Ostiense to Stazione San Pietro.

Metro tickets work for the city train, but train tickets cost 10 cents less.  We save 30 cents.  To build the new abbey and high school.

So we descend from the train at the stazione, and try to walk north the couple blocks to the Piazza San Pietro.  So does everyone else.  Everyone.  Everyone gets off the train with us.  Everyone walks north.  Everyone and their mother is directed around to the right, back toward the Tiber, through the tunnel. 

On the west side of the Ponte  Amadeo, we want to go up toward the Via della Conciliazione, but the cops won't let us.  The only way we can move now is over across the bridge to the east bank of the Tiber.  On the wrong side of the river, we work north through the crowds, all wanting the same thing, but not knowing how to get it.  Ponte Vittorio Emmanuele is closed, ie, they're not letting people on it.  Ponte S. Angelo, which leads over to Castel S. Angelo is the same. 

8:36 am.  The Ponte Umberto is open.  By the Corte di Cassazione.  Folks are camped out on the bridge, but it's not packed.  We have a clear view of St. Peter's, but are way too far to see or hear anything, and there're no screens or loudspeakers here.

Not good enough.  Whadyasay we give up and head over to Santa Maria Maggiore?  There're s'posed to be screens set up there.  No way.  If want to watch it on TV, I can head back home.  We're here to be here.

Press on to the Palazzo di Giustitia, then further north into the side streets.  Fr. Martin seems to know where he's going.  All the way around Castel S. Angelo. 

8:45.  A Young adult group from Lebanon. 

The sky is finally clearing. It's blue with white clouds.

More side streets. Some blokes with a British flag.

We hit the edge of Piazza Pia at 8:50 am.  Crowds.  Party.  Impossible.  Crush in.  Hope.

Each sardine wants to shift his way to the edge of Via della Conciliazione.  If we can get to the Via, we'll have a straight view into the Piazza.

An old lady in wheelchair. Merci. Gracias.  Di niente. 

Cczech, Slovak, and German flags.

9:02 am.  I can see a screen!

They announce that we can gain plenary indulgence under the usual conditions, which they proceed to list in various languages.

Then they start playing choral music.  Seems to be a theme song of some kind.

Ooh! It's an Italian version of "open wide the doors to Christ!"  Non abbiate paura, et cetera.

Then they start singing a chaplet in Italian from 9:10-15.

We're really packed in here.  Here's a Spanish lady with her family.  She speaks Spanish.  I speak Italian.  We understand each other.  She tells me about her son way over across the ocean in UC Irvine.  Oh, I'm from over there.  What?  I thought you were Italian.  No, io sono degli stati uniti.  My Italian's not really that good, but I guess good enough to fool someone who doesn't know any.  She asks prayers for her family.  Moms do that. 

No.  Way.  An ambulance is trying to get through.  Kyrie eleison.  I'll try to post the video later.  [Update: the video]  Unbelievable.  But it makes us shift more toward the intersection. 

9:56 am.  I'm barely on the Conciliazione, almost behind the 1^st pillar on right. Packed with people as far as I can see. I can see the dome of St. Peters, and one of the screens.  If you faint, you won't fall.

[Update: Some more videos.]

Folks are handing out thousands of plastic water bottles.  Good idea.  I can see the heat rising off the mass of people in front of me.

Here comes the Pope! 

A short conversation in Latin:
Cardinal:  Holy Father, please declare JP2 to be Blessed.
Pope:  Okay, if you say so.  He's Blessed.
[The crowd goes wild.]
Cardinal:  Thank you.

Announcement that Mass is beginning: please hold your applause and stop waving your banners.  As this message is broadcast is each language, the flags of countries that speak that language are furled. The request is made in Spanish; the Spanish and Mexican flags go down.  In Portuguese; the Brazilian flags go down. In Polish; the red and white flags go down.  In English; the US and UK flags go down.  In Italian; the Italian flags go down.  In French; the Sacred heart flag goes down.

The Mass is largely in Latin.  This makes universal participation easier. Now I'm going to stop taking notes and try praying.