Papal Audience - Madison Levine

Madison Levine

3/4/15

This morning started off extremely early, but it was definitely worth it. At 5:30 the front desk gave us our wake up call and we had around 45 minutes before we had to be down in the lobby

and ready to go. We all boarded the bus with our boxed breakfast ready to go and headed to the Vatican for the second time this entire trip. At around 7 we got in line to enter the Vatican where Pope Francis would be entering around 2 or 3 hours later. Half an hour later, the guards opened the gates to the Vatican and we all ran as fast as we could to get seats because there were so many people. We actually got really good seats a few rows behind the first row, and we were very close to the Pope's chair. While waiting for the Papal audience to begin, we warmed up with a couple of songs and talked with each other. A few moments later, a man came out and announced all the Italian groups present, and then another came up announcing all the French groups present, and so on so forth. When they finally announced all the English-speaking groups present, we all got super excited. They finally announced the Cape Henry Collegiate Choir, and we began singing "Everytime I Feel the Spirit" instead of cheering like everyone else when their group was called. Then on the big screens around the area, a live video of Pope Francis and his cardinals saying prayers in Italian came on. Finally, the Pope came out in this fancy white car and the entire crowd started cheering. As the car he was in, drove around the area, his security guards would carry some of the babies and hand them to Pope Francis so he could kiss the baby's' heads. He even stopped to talk to an elderly women, and it was so sweet. When he sat down in his chair, he began speaking. However not everyone could speak the same language as him, so there were about 10 different translators that summarized what he said afterwards. At first I wasn't that excited to hear the same thing translated into so many different languages, but then I remembered that the Pope was literally so close to us and that this opportunity doesn't come around often. Also, being in the Vatican was amazing, because all the buildings are so intricate and jaw-dropping. It was also really cool being surrounded by so many cultures that all came together to see the Pope.
Currently, we're headed to Assisi. We stopped about 40 minutes into the trip for lunch, and now everyone is sleeping or talking with one another on the bus. I can't wait to see what the last few days have in store for us. If they're anything like the past few days, then I know they will be absolutely amazing.