How I visited the Pope, and found out about companions of approved virtue

Wow! What a day! It's going to be hard to beat this one, that's for sure ...

Today - 18th October 2006, we went, as a group, to St Peter's, in the Vatican, for the Wednesday Papal Audience (or 'General Audience) and I almost met the Pope!

Well, OK, that last bit was just to get you sucked in to the story, I didn't really almost meet the Pope, but I did get within ten metres of him!

To begin at the beginning ...

Last week, a notice went onto the board outside the Aula (see pic at left), where the Capitulars (Consultors) meet every day, asking who would like to go along to a Papal Audience. I had heard, as everyone does, that Papal Audiences are held every Wednesday at St Peter's, with many thousands of people gathering in St Peter's Square on each occasion. Since I was unsure whether staff were able to go, I asked Fr Denis and he said it would be fine as long as Bro Larry could spare me. I think Bro Larry was relieved to know I'd be out of his hair for half a day, so I signed on the dotted line!

Then I started to get really nervous. I have had a lousy cold all week and been feeling awful, despite Fra Guiseppe's magic cupboard of pills and potions, from where he extracted some hot pink SEKI brand 'confetti' for me, along with some antibiotic pastilles, which were now finished. My head felt full of cotton wool and I was so nervous - I was scared of doing something dumb like falling down and embarrassing everyone, including myself!

Usually, at something 'official' I just stick close to the boss (Fr Denis), watch what he does and play 'follow the leader', but I knew he would be tied up with important stuff. So I asked the good natured and unflappable Fr Chris Monaghan (at right) if he was going, so there would be someone nearby I could ask questions of (and who would not think I was being a pain if I didn't know what to do, and when). Fr Chris was otherwise engaged, so I said I would ask one of my San Gabriele day bus buddies, and one of the nicest ever people, Fr Martin Santiago, if he would be my 'Audience Buddy'.

Fr Chris spotted Fr Martin in the Refettoria crowd and said "Come on, we'll see him right now!", so off we went. That's when Fr Chris said "Martin, Christine is in need of a 'companion of approved virtue' for the Audience tomorrow, can you oblige?" Oh my goodness, I thought, what is this?, but they were both chortling away. Fr Chris explained that at one time, if a religious went anywhere outside the retreat house, he or she was supposed to request a 'companion of approved virtue' to accompany them, in order to protect them from ... well mainly from companions whose virtue had NOT been approved, I gather!

The requirement no longer applies (at least not among Passionists - who don't need the approval of companions to behave themselves), but of course the language lingers on, and on these occasions provides not just a moment's amusement, but also a very real link with the lives of past generations.

Fr Martin most obligingly agreed to be my 'companion of approved virtue' and at 8.15 am, we met near the portiniere for our trip to St Peter's. Rather than a big bus, as I was expecting, we travelled in a little mini-bus driven expertly through the outrageous morning peak hour Roman traffic by the valiant and completely unscare-able Fr Massimo Granieri.

On arriving at St Peter's Square, we did not get out and join the mingling throngs ... our bus continued up the street behind the Square, to a roped off area. Now my stomach really was in knots!

When we saw the rest of the Passionist group we knew we had found the right place (Fr Massimo never had any doubts!) and the police, security guards (in immaculate suits!) and the famous Swiss Guards ( http://tinyurl.com/nxdut ) were there to usher our group to our pre-arranged seats, and among the many amazing sights that presented themselves, I noticed that the Swiss Guards in their colourful uniforms actually look pretty good!

On postcards and tv, the uniforms look garish and fussy, but in this setting, against the backdrop of these ancient buildings and as part of the ritual and ceremony of the occasion, they fit in and look fantastic.

And those colours are nowhere near as outlandish as they appear in pictures. The uniforms are said to have been designed by Michelangelo, and when you think about it, he was probably fairly trustworthy when it came to throwing a few colours together!

As we emerged from the top of the wooden ramp I saw why we were being shepherded so closely ... we walked from the top step straight onto the platform created between two sets of stairs sweeping up from the Square toward St Peter's, and there, five rows in front of me was the canopy under which the Pope would sit to give his address!

Fr Denis was singled out by a Swiss Guard, and after waiting a few confusing minutes shown to a seat in the second row, directly behind the place reserved for Fr Ottaviano D'Egidio, the newly re-elected General Superior. We were not told, but we would later discover that at the conclusion of proceedings, the Pope would personally greet and speak with most of those in the first three rows.

Several other Passionists were in the front rows, including my other San Gabriele bus buddy, the German Provincial Fr Gregor Lenzen, who was a novice at the Passionist Retreat House in Regensburg, where the Pope was a very frequent visitor before he was Pope.

The Pope arrived in the world famous 'Pope Mobile', standing up as the white jeep type truck drove around each block of pilgrims gathered in the Square.

As he demonstrated, Pope Benedict 16th is a very educated man. He spoke in six different languages - Italian, Spanish, German, French, English and Polish, with asides in Slovakian and Portugese. His talk was on a continuing theme, 'The Disciples', and today's topic was Judas. While the time he spoke in each language was necessarily brief, what he said was interesting and challenging. You can read the full text here: http://tinyurl.com/ym3yt8

Throughout, he, or one of his secretaries, greeted various groups in the huge - and hugely excited - crowd, in their own language, causing explosions of cheering and soccer match type 'We love B-E-N-E-D-E-T-T-O' cheers in various languages and with various degrees of skill.

Every so often a choir would be introduced and break into song for 30 seconds or so.

Many of the crowd had brought national flags or bright scarves with them, and as their names were called, they cheered, and waved the scarves in the air, making a great show of colour and cheering.

St Peter's Square holds about 50,000 people, I was told, and on this bright, not autumn day in Rome the crowd had spilled from the Square into the piazza and road beyond, in a solid mass of excitement and colour. Is it any wonder that when Pope Benedict said that he 'particularly wished to welcome the Capitulares of the passionist Congregation' to the audience that the very dignified Provincials and Vicars jumped up and let out a cheer? Caught up in the moment, it was very nice and everyone had a laugh afterwards.

The Audience was extremely well managed, and a brilliant demonstration of the workings of protocol, too. We arrived at 9 am, and the Square was already full (although buses continued to arrive until we left). At precisely 11 am, the Pope ascended the dais and the Audience commenced.

It finished on the first stroke of the Angelus at 12 noon, precisely, when security guards moved in very very swiftly yet with no fanfare at all, and stacked the chairs from the first couple of rows, to form a makeshift but effective barrier, so that the Pope could comfortably approach the fence, greet those in the first few rows in an informal way and move off. Well, I say informal but there was really nothing 'informal' about the ceremony, it was extremely well managed to the enth degree. The photo at left shows the Pope speaking with Fr Gregor Lenzen CP. There is a good photo of the Pope speaking with the General too, but it's not mine, so I have to ask permission to use it. If I can I'll post it soon.

One of the interesting things about the conclusion of the Audience was the unofficial 'press gallery' that developed ... all of us with cameras (mine was a little shy in such company), were clicking away at top speed - and some must have got great photos judging by their vantage points! Fr Martin joined the press gallery for a while, as the pic at right shows ...

Well, after such an exciting morning, it was a great pleasure to take a leisurely walk home with Fr Denis and Fr Phil Smith. The 45 minute walk took about two hours - I had to go slowly due to the cold I had, and also was compelled to stop every five inches and take a photo - but what a lovely way to refresh before a very busy working afternoon and evening.