Buona Pasqua!

I was about ten meters away from the pope this morning. The reality of that didn't even cross my mind until I got back here to the apartment.

I wasn't even planning on going to Easter Sunday Mass at the Vatican when I arrived in Roma this semester. I had my mind set on finding some nice, quiet, small church in the heart of Roma to celebrate in. I didn't want to deal with crowds pushing and shoving just to see the pope.

But when CUA asked if we wanted them to request tickets for us, "Well," I figured, "Why not?"

And so, at 6:30 this morning I woke up and made my way to Vatican City with some of the Arts and Sciences students from my floor.

Piazza di San Pietro, empty at 7:30

I'm really happy I decided to go because it was a really neat experience! It was like going to a Catholic school graduation: a lot of pomp and circumstance added to the usual ritual of the Mass. For instance, just before the service started, the Swiss Guard marched in (I had no idea the Vatican had so many Swiss Guards!), followed by four different military bands, all leading up to the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in the Pope Mobile. 

Military bands in formation before the outdoor altar

Pope Benedict XVI processes in for Mass

However, what I thought was most interesting about the Mass was its use of multiple languages. Most of the Mass parts were spoken in Latin (I was amazed how much Latin I remembered from high school--including the 'Pater Noster'), but the first reading was in Italian, and the second reading was in English. Also, each of the general intercessions was spoken in a different language, including French, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, and even Swahili.

Piazza di San Pietro at 12:30 (just after Mass),
crowded all the way down Via di Conciliazione

But even more impressive was the multilingual end to Pope Benedict's Urbi et Orbi message at the end of Mass. In what must have been at least 30 different languages, including Mongolian, Japanese, Hungarian, Finnish, Korean, Thai, and Icelandish, the Pope wished the world a happy and blessed Easter.

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his Urbi et Orbi Address

And I felt happy and blessed to be there.