Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Happy St. Joseph's day everyone!  St. Joseph's day is also Father's Day in Italy, and so it is certainly an appropriate day to celebrate the Installation Mass of a new pope!  We had to leave the Villa at 5am this morning in order to make it in time to get a spot in the square for the Mass.  But it was definitely worth it, because the Mass was beautiful.  Watching Pope Francis receive the Papal pallium and the fisherman's ring made me really value the rich symbolism and tradition of our faith; not to mention the fact that it renewed my appreciation of apostolic succession.  We couldn't have asked for a better day either - yesterday it was storming and today it was clear, sunny, and warm (a few people in our group even got sunburns)!  It was a Mass that I will never forget!

Sunday Angelus

Installation Mass

I had another unforgettable experience this past Sunday - I was a yard away from Pope Francis!  He celebrated a private Mass at Santa Ana, and a few of us decided that even though we couldn't go to the Mass we may as well wait outside to try to see him.  It turned out we were not the only ones with this idea, but we were still able to get a spot right next to the fence.  After Mass he greeted everyone in attendance at the Mass, and then he went out of his way to greet many of us in the crowd.  Unfortunately he did not greet anyone in our group, but it was a cool experience nonetheless.  I just could not believe how much time he spent with the crowds (he didn't end up leaving Santa Ana's until 11:50am, and he had his first Angelus at noon).  The Angelus was also beautiful, but boy was it packed!  People spilled out of the square filling the Via Conciliazione and lining the streets all the way back to the Tiber River!  It was a record breaking crowd of over 1/2 a million people!  It is just so cool for me to be a part of all of this, I certainly feel blessed to be able to have these wonderful experiences abroad!