Thoughts and pictures from the canonization of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II

This afternoon it occurred to me that this morning I witnessed the canonization of a saint for the third and fourth time. The first canonization I attended was for Saint Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein); the second for Saint Damien de Vuester; the third for Saint Pope John XXIII; and the fourth for Saint Pope John Paul II.

At 6:30 a.m. I began my walk toward the Basilica of St. Peter, where my ticket indicated I was to present myself at 8:30 a.m. to be shown to the "clergy section" where the priests and deacons - and apparently a few seminarians, as well - who where neither concelebrating nor assisting with the distribution of Holy Communion would be seated.

Ordinarily the walk takes about thirty minutes, depending on tourists and traffic (which are sometimes the same). With the great number of both pilgrims and tourists in Rome this weekend, I expected to encounter slow moving crowds along the way. To my great surprise and pleasure, I encountered crowds, and almost no one else, until I arrived at the piazza outside of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith just to the left of Saint Peter's Square. It was there that I found a massive gathering of priests and laity all dutifully following instructions and getting more or less in certain lines to enter the screening area before being admitted to the square.

It all seemed remarkably organized and efficient, by Italian standards, until I quickly realized that not only did not all of the workers know which line went where, but the security personnel were not yet at the metal detectors. We stood around for about thirty minutes until they arrived, all the while being pushed and shoved by impatient clergy, most of whom were from Poland and Italy. Once they began to screen us, however, the line moved along more or less well.

It was classic demonstration of Italian organization. The "line" going to the metal director was somehow between 15 and 20 people wide (as determined by the railings that guided and corralled us), all of whom had to somehow funnel themselves into a single file row to be screened. Once we finally made it through the check point, we then had to merge with large groups of people coming toward us from our right and at various - and rather random and subjective moments determined by the staff - one line or the other would be made to stop without explanation.

When, after much frustration, I finally arrived at the clergy section I was greatly relieved to find it rather empty. I took a seat along the far left side on the aisle and in the second row.

Here is the view from my seat:

The forecast for the day called for intermittent rain and the clouds certainly looked like they could unleash a downpour at any moment:

Though the temperature took a quick drop before the Mass began and the air felt like rain, a few drops fell upon us, but no real amount of rain. On a providential note, after Pope Francis said, "...we declare and define Blessed John XXIII and John Paul II be Saints and we enroll them among the Saints, that they are to be venerated as such by the whole Church," that the clouds lessened slightly and the sun shone enough to illumine the Square. (The fell at last about 4:00 p.m.)

Hundreds of thousands of people filled the Square, the Via Conciliazione that led to the Square, as well as the surrounding streets and piazzas throughout the city of Rome:

A few minutes before the Mass was to begin the congregation erupted in applause as I was sitting in my chair reading a book. I looked up and saw that His Holiness Benedict XVI, the Pope Emeritus, had arrived. As a further sign of their respect and love for the predecessor of Pope Francis, the congregation - including the Bishops - stood to welcome him as the applause continued. We saw his smile again on the jumbotrons and tears formed in my eyes; it was very good to see him again.

The Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, happened to be sitting three rows behind the Pope Emeritus, tweeted this picture:

Pope Emeritus Benedict, hunched over 3 rows in front of me in center of photo with white cap, Pope Francis upper left pic.twitter.com/ZjUW6h0xCX
— Bishop Paprocki (@BishopPaprocki) April 27, 2014

Throughout his life, Benedict XVI has been a man of authentic humility, a further example of which we saw today in an extraordinary way. Let us not forget him in our prayers and pray that he, too, will one day by numbered among the Saints!

When the time came, the rite of canonization began with the Litany of the Saints as the Cardinals and Pope Francis came in procession to the altar. After reverencing the altar, the Cardinals took turns greeting Benedict XVI before taking their places at the chairs.

After the Litany of the Saints, His Eminence Angelo Cardinal Amato, S.B.D., Prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints, thrice asked the Successor of Peter to enroll the Blessed Popes John XXIII and John Paul II among the Saints. After imploring the assistance of the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis acceded to Cardinal Amato's request, which he made in the name of the whole Church.

We then sang praise to God and Cardinal Amato asked the Holy Father to "decree the Apostolic Letter concerning the Act of canonization to be drawn up." When Pope Francis said, "We so decree," the congregation erupted in applause of joy and gratitude. It was a very moving and powerful moment.

The relics of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II were then brought to the Holy Father to venerate before placed on a pedestal beside the altar where they were honored with candles and incense:

The Mass of Divine Mercy Sunday then followed as usual, with two deacons chanting the Gospel, one in Latin and the other in Greek:

In his homily, Pope Francis said, in part, that

Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II were not afraid to look upon the wounds of Jesus, to touch his torn hands and his pierced side. They were not ashamed of the flesh of Christ, they were not scandalized by him, by his cross; they did not despise the flesh of their brother (cf. Is 58:7), because they saw Jesus in every person who suffers and struggles. These were two men of courage, filled with the parrhesia of the Holy Spirit, and they bore witness before the Church and the world to God’s goodness and mercy.

They were priests, bishops and popes of the twentieth century. They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them, God was more powerful; faith was more powerful – faith in Jesus Christ the Redeemer of man and the Lord of history; the mercy of God, shown by those five wounds, was more powerful; and more powerful too was the closeness of Mary our Mother.

In these two men, who looked upon the wounds of Christ and bore witness to his mercy, there dwelt a living hope and an indescribable and glorious joy (1 Pet 1:3,8). The hope and the joy which the risen Christ bestows on his disciples, the hope and the joy which nothing and no one can take from them. The hope and joy of Easter, forged in the crucible of self-denial, self-emptying, utter identification with sinners, even to the point of disgust at the bitterness of that chalice. Such were the hope and the joy which these two holy popes had received as a gift from the risen Lord and which they in turn bestowed in abundance upon the People of God, meriting our eternal gratitude. 

After the Mass, Pope Francis greeted the various state delegations before touring the Square and the Via Conciliazione in the Popemobile. My place at the corner of the clergy section allowed me to take a pictures as he rolled by:

 

 

When Pope Francis concluded his little tour, it took some time before the security personnel opened the Square and allowed the 150,000 or so of us inside to begin to exit, but only in certain sections, thus creating several funnels within the Square that outside the Square had to funnel again into one line.

It felt as though the Italians spent so much effort figuring out how to get people into the Square that they completely forgot to plan how to get them out. It was an absolute mess and led one English woman to vocalize, rather loudly and with some anger, my same sentiments: "These are the pushiest people I have ever seen," she declared, before adding, "I'm never coming back!" I couldn't argue with her and only told her, "The Italians have no sense whatever of personal space." It seems the Poles don't either, but then neither does most of continental Europe.

Several times I wanted to turn around and say to those pushing and shoving into spaces that simply didn't exist, "Sono qui, non lei! (I am here, not you!)." I refrained, however, and once I managed my away to the other side of the Tiber the crowds lessened considerably and I continued my way back to the Casa Santa Maria and rested within the safety and peace of its walls.

All in all, the day was excellent and not nearly as chaotic as I expected it would be.

Saints John XXIII and John Paul II, pray for us!

I have posted additional pictures in an on album on my Facebook page.

The chaos that wasn't, and being scolded by a German

Questioning my sanity as I did so, I set out yesterday morning toward the Basilica of St. Peter both to take pictures of the tapestries that had been hung that morning of the soon-to-be Saints John XXIII and John Paul II and to see how chaotic the city of Rome was becoming.

As I walked through the piazza outside the Pantheon, I was very surprised at how few people there were (it was not until much later in the day I realized it was closed in honor of Italy's Liberation Day) and wondered where all of the tourists. Since it was about 10:30 a.m., it seemed unlikely they were all still in bed (though not entirely impossible).

On my way to the Vatican Basilica, I was stopped by a stop light at the Tiber River. Like most Italians (and everyone else who visits Rome except for the Germans), I refuse to have my life ordered by a computerized box and, since no vehicles were to be seen from either direction, I stepped into the street and began to cross over to the other side. As I did so, a German began to scold me as he pointed to the clear "don't walk" sign indicated on the opposite side. He clearly did not realize where he was (the Germans, as a general rule, having a very hard time ignoring unnecessary crossing signals and are often visibly uncomfortable by those who ignore them). I simply waved to him and continued on my way.

When I entered St. Peter's Square I was very surprised to see how open it was:

It certain sections, however, it was quite filled with people:

Without much difficulty I made my way in front of the basilica to take a few pictures of the tapestries:

Because of the crowds, it was all but impossible to stand still long enough for a straight shot.

I'm especially pleased that the two Pontiffs are shown wearing the same items of papal vesture and have been baffled why so much of the Internet - both news sites and blogs - show one in cassock, mozetta, and stole and the other in a chasuble, something like this (though not the usual juxtaposition):

Showing them in matching attire makes more sense and is more visually pleasing.

After I left the piazza and was half-way down the road that leads to St. Peter's, an older Italian man who was approaching the basilica stopped me to ask if it was, in fact, St. Peter's. His question caught me by surprise; I thought everyone knew what the Basilica of St. Peter looks like, especially an Italian in Rome!


In the days following the announcement of the tomorrow's dual canonization, some feared that canonizing both Popes at the same ceremony would either be too large of an event or take something away from the canonization of Blessed Pope John XXIII, or both.

While the first concern remains yet to be seen, the second concern seems quite right. In looking at banners, buttons, and pins, and looking at various souvenirs in the shops, it seems that John Paul II has completely overshadowed John XXIII. As just one example, one shop sold four of different holy cards of John Paul II, but none of John XXIII. Either the pilgrims have already bought up nearly everything relating to the Good Pope, or most are only vaguely aware that he is, as it were, "that other guy."

Since Bishop Paprocki is in Rome for the canonizations, I joined him and my successor as his secretary for lunch, together with our seminarian at the North American College and a few of the Bishop's friends for Chicago. I spent the afternoon with the seminarian and the priest and visit one of the chapels at the NAC, where I happily noticed this window:

Every day with Father Damien is a good day.

In the evening I visited with an old friend from Quincy who now serves as the Executive Director of Communications and Planning for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, a good friend whom I don't get to see often enough.

All in all, it was a very good day as, I hope, today will be as well despite the increasing crowds and threat of rain.

Big days ahead in Rome: Here comes everybody

James Joyce once wrote that being Catholic means "here comes everybody," a phrase which certainly applies well to the coming days in the Eternal City as pilgrims are now arriving in droves from every part of the world in attempt to witness something of the canonization Blessed Popes John XXIII and John Paul II.

The city of Rome is home to some 2.5 million people, no small number for a city that is 2,767 years old. Officials with the city of Rome are expecting an additional 1 million people will be in the city for the weekend's celebrations (in a city that can almost accommodate its usual population), though I expect that estimation to be very, very low and not near what the reality will be (Vatican Radio admits that no one really knows how many people to expect).

The city is already becoming difficult to navigate as roads around the Basilica of St. Peter are being barricading and streets and sidewalks repaired (you never what to accomplish a task too early in Italy) and the other streets are filled with people. The number of taxis in the area of the Vatican basilica has increased considerably, leading me to guess that taxis have either been brought in from other cities in Italy or parts of Rome will suffer a shortage of taxis over the never five or six days. This afternoon I witnessed a taxi traffic jam:

The logistical preparations alone for the canonizations are staggering:

"We are prepared to distribute almost 4 million plastic bottles of water, we have a massive plan to host almost 2,000 buses coming from all over Europe, and we will have shuttles moving back and forward in order not to have 2,000 huge buses circulating downtown in Rome," [Ignazio] Marino said [he is the mayor of Rome].

Some 2,000 police officers will be on the streets at any given time, says the mayor. More than 2,500 civil protection department volunteers will help with crowd control. Specially trained medical teams will staff 13 first aid stations. And a thousand chemical toilets have been set up near the Vatican and key tourist areas.

Rome's two subway lines and some buses will run nonstop, and 17 big screens will enable visitors to watch the ceremony throughout the city.

The total cost is estimated at $11 million, which will be partially covered by the national government. After all, the mayor says, this is not just a local Roman event.

"We are talking about an event I would classify as a global event," Marino said. "We will probably have 2 billion all over the planet who will watch Rome on that day through TV, radio and [the] Internet." 

But wait, there's more:

Over two and a half thousand volunteers will be working throughout the weekend to distribute four million free water bottles and hand out 150.000 free liturgical booklets. They’ll also be providing information about free access to the Mass, which will be from the river end of Via della Conciliazione, and disability assistance points, which will be located in three areas close to St Peter’s Square.

The entire zone around the Vatican will be closed to traffic but extra bus lines will be laid on from coach parking facilities and both the main Metro lines will be running non-stop from early on Saturday morning until after midnight on Sunday.

Being one who does not enjoy crowds (not even slightly), I had planned to join many Romans and flee the city this week to avoid the ensuing chaos - and watch the canonization online or on television - until my Bishop sent word that he is coming for the celebrations (I then thought it wise to stay in town).

Even so, I will more than likely still watch the canonization online in my room. Many weeks ago I requested a ticket and offered to assist with the distribution of Holy Communion, but have neither received a response or a ticket. This was just fine with me until I learned a few hours ago the His Holiness Benedict XVI will attend the canonization Mass (reports which seem to have vanished from both my Facebook and Twitter feeds).