Visiting the Pope

I had a theory. My theory was that on Wednesdays, hundreds and hundreds of people stand in line to get into the weekly audience with Pope Benedict. If hundreds of people are standing in line to see the pope, that meant hundreds of people AREN’T standing in the line for the Vatican Museum – a museum with notoriously long queues.

Yay! My theory proved right. At almost 10 o’clock, we were able to walk right into the building and get our tickets. Granted, the museum itself was pretty busy, but everything is immense and so you don’t feel that crowded.

Last time we visited the Vatican Museum, we walked straight to the Sistine Chapel without looking at all of the other beautiful exhibits and paintings. This time we took our time and saw all of the beautiful Etruscan pottery, Greek and Roman sculpture, tapestries, and, most breathtaking of all, a room of frescoes by Raphael. The frescoes were painted on the walls of the room that was part of the apartment of Julius II, the pope famous for the construction of St. Peters and, of course, hiring Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (which turned out to be a fine decision on his part). One of the Raphael frescoes was entitled The School of Athens. Raphael placed his chief competitor Michelangelo into the painting as a sullen loner. He can be seen in the front with his head in his hands.

Bill spotted a particular statue that he liked. I don’t know what the actual name of the sculpture is, but Bill dubbed it The Three Sisters in honor of his wife and two sisters-in-law.

The museum tour ends with a visit to the Sistine Chapel. No matter how many times I will see that lovely chapel, it will never fail to take my breath away. How a human being can create such a beautiful and spiritual work of art is beyond me. God’s hand, it is very clear. No photos were allowed.

Following our museum visit, we had thought we would go into St. Peter’s. Though we were there the other day, I still want to visit the tomb of John Paul II. Unfortunately, we got out of there about the same time that the audience had ended, and all of those hundreds of people who had listened to the words of Pope Benedict VI were now trying to get into St. Peter’s as well. We elected to go on another day.

We grabbed a bus to take us back to our metro stop. We have been blessed with meeting the most interesting people. We boarded the bus, and a priest already seated on the bus moved over so that we could sit. He asked us, “Americano?” (We must just SCREAM American, because everyone knows we are.) We said yes. He was visiting Rome from Massachusetts, and had just left the audience with the Pope. He was enthralled when he heard how long we had been traveling and our future plans. We talked for some time until he had to leave the bus.

After a quiet afternoon at home, we went back into the city around 4:30. I had wanted to visit St. John Lateran Basilica, which is the Pope’s cathedral (remember that in addition to being pope, he is also the bishop of Rome). The church is gorgeous, with beautiful statutes of all of the apostles sculpted by students of Bernini and a magnificent ceiling of gold.

Just outside of the church are the Scala Sancta. This staircase is believed to be the stairs that were part of Pontius Pilot’s palace, and as such, climbed up and down repeatedly by Christ on the day he died. It’s believed that the emperor Constantine’s mother brought the steps back to Rome. The only way you are allowed to climb the steps is on your knees. Bill was seriously considering doing it, but waited too long and a group of high school students packed the steps. The sight is awe-inspiring, that’s for sure.

After that, we met David Troy and his friend, Father Placido, who comes from India, for dinner. We ate at an Indian restaurant in a very ethnic neighborhood near the train station. It is clearly a place for locals, and the food was delicious. It was nice to eat something other than pasta or pizza for a change (though I love both).

The weather was clear and very warm.