Papa's Gonna Preach

Day 54

Rome welcomed its new bishop what I've come to recognize is the typical Roman fashion: by posting a poster on every street corner.

I'm so stealing one of these

Today was the inaugural mass for Pope Francis and St. Peter's square was once again bustling, so naturally I was there bustling right along with everyone else.  This trip to St. Peter's lacked the mad dash that last Wednesday's papal headlines brought, though was equally frenetic for us as we bus hopped when we missed our normal bus to the Vatican.  Once we got there, we squeezed through the cracks, trying to get as close as we possibly could.  All the higher ups must have been praying hard because it not only was not raining, but was actually sunny for the first time in over a week.

Though I missed out on snagging a program for the mass, in some ways it was equally cool to follow along in in my multiple broken languages.  A ton of languages were spoken throughout the mass, and I was proud to be able, if not to fully understand, at least to catch the gist of the second reading in Spanish, the Italian homily, and the Latin prayers (though habit and practice, not my Classical education may have played a part with that last one.)

While I enjoyed the mass as something different yet familiar, I was unfortunately the only Catholic in the group of kids who headed out today.  For them it was all just people talking in languages they didn't fully understand.  That meant that smack dab in the middle of the Our Father they turn to me and say "We're leaving."  I had learned this prayer in Italian the night before, and I don't want to stop in the middle.  I stared at them with wide eyes for a minute before holding up 2 fingers, trying to tell them to wait just until the prayer ended.  They took it to mean peace out.  Finally breaking my concentration on my new Italian skill set, I rush through the remainder in English and turn to leave with them, only to end up almost in the same spot 5 minutes later because the only thing more difficult than getting inside the square is getting out.  Thankfully the delay let me finish the Eucharistic sacrament and receive communion.  (I'll also admit that I didn't try to help them get out.  I knew where the exit was the entire time.  Its okay though, I just prayed with the Pope.)

Ciao,
J