PICTURES AND VIDEOS

Front-page photo of Osservatore Romano, 4/6/05:


And the full front page on:
www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_quo/081q01.pdf

waahhhh!!! love the Papa Punk pics!!

THAT BEAUTIFUL WINDSWEPT LOOK...

is probably not going to last much longer. You know the barber will show up probably Friday or Saturday and give Papa some close-cut haircut just in time for all the Easter ceremonies and his trip to Castel Gandolfo. It's a shame because his hair in all of yesterday's photos is just the right length for him. He looks absolutely great as is!

singing the praise of the wind that gave us these delightful pics....super!
And, joy oh joy! Teresa, I can suddenly see the wow!-pics on the previous page. Thanks. Either my computer reacted favourably to the sudden frustrated slaps I'd given it, or you pressed a miracle button.

I wanna go back!!!

When is the next flight? Is there a spare sleeping bag in Rome? Hey I'll camp out by the oblisk...

...despite all our imprecations against his 'shearers' at the Vatican. He's the fortunate heir of rare hair genes that guarantee his beautiful hair will continue to be his crowning glory (one of them!) to the end of his days. I chose this picture from the Mass for John Paul the other day to show how Papa's concelebrants and Marini have the receding hairline typical of probably 90% of all aging males, while Papa's hair remains defiantly luxuriant...


And closer looks:

....

And let the wind do what it will, we get the most adorably dishevelled Papino bambolottino!

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Papa and the wind, Episode #??...too many to count in less than a year...I thought of yesterday's gusts as a Pentecostal wind...I wouldn't have been surprised if tongues of fire had materialized as well...Seems to prove one thing: Papa has no need for anyone to orchestrate "special effects" for him - the Holy Spirit sees to it and makes them occur naturally!

Paparatzifan has put together a photo sequence from the general audience, as a visual record of the wind phenomenon yesterday...Engineers will have to explain if Bernini's colonnades create an elliptical tunnel that amplifies wind effects in Piazza San Pietro...Photographers had a photo-op even more extensive than they had the day Papa landed in Cologne last August!..Here are a few choice shots:



Now the fun begins!










And Ratzigirl rounds up with photos on the Papamobile:

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WHAT A BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS, HANDSOME ...head of hair!!!

It looks like somebody has tossled it up with their fingers. Maryjos isn't in Rome yet, is she?

With that cape flying around him while he is standing and waving at people, Papa looks like he has just flown in and landed, like SuperPapa.

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And from Sylvie, her round-up of Papa's meeting with the youth of Rome and Lazio today, with a Q&A session reminiscent of Papa's get-together with the First Communicants last October. The open Q&A is a Benedict innovation in the Papacy. He also held substantive exchanges in this manner with the local clergy of Val D'Aosta last July and the Roman clergy last month.



The Pope's encounter with the youth ended with a special visit by him and selected youth representatatives to the tomb of John Paul II in the crypt of St. Peter's.


We must not forget to credit Cardinal Camillo Ruini - who has become my favorite man around the Pope - for all the many significant and successful events that he and the Vicariate of Rome have organized for the Pope in the past year - not to mention his fearless affirmation and defense of Catholic principles in the arena of Italian politics! As he just turned 75, I hope the Pope won't retire him but keep him on for at least another 5 years.

Like I said before I wanna go back!!!
Mary, help!!! Give me some of your concoction to change me into a small speck of dust that you can transport to Rome in your luggage... I promise I'll be good!!!

Seriously, Teresa... WOW those pictures are incredible!!!

Those kids are soooooo very lucky!

Perhaps because the event took place in the late afternoon of 4/6/05, the Osservatore Romano does not carry any pictures of the Pope's encounter with the youth in its 4/7/05 issue. Instead it uses this photo from the Cologne WYD and a photo of JP-II embracing a young person.

And the front-page itself is on
www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_quo/082q01.pdf

The Vatican site has just published the transcript of the Pope's exchange with the youths yesterday. I won't be able to post a translation till tonight.

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Meanwhile, please run over to the French section under SON VIDEO where Beatrice has just posted a slide show based on images captured by Sylvie from yesterday's telecast of the Pope's encounter with the youth. Most of the images show Papa either listening or giving his answers - a precious picture-portrait of Papa as teacher and model for the youth.

After taking a peek at that video clip... Ohhhhhhhhhh... my mind goes back to my General Audience... hearing a lesson from Professor Ratzinger!!! I only pray those young people realize how incredibly lucky they are...

Front-page photo (largest of 3 about the event) on Osservatore Romano for 4/8/05:


and the actual front-page may be seen on
www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_quo/083q01.pdf

Today is the first anniversary of John-Paul II's funeral, a day which marks, for many among us, their Ratzinger epiphany. While waiting for Sylvie to post her montage of pictures from that historic day, I thought it was an opportune time to re-post this picture showing then Cardinal Ratzinger plighting his loyalty to his new Pontiff in 1978. The second smaller picture shows both men moments later - it was contributed by Josie in the main forum.

Papararatzifan posted this photo 'upstairs' of Papa with Don Andrea Santoro's mother and sister
at the Thursday event in St. Peter's Square:


As well as more photos of our Caped Wonder - what flair!




And these are some of Paparaxvi's picks:

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What a wonderful pics!

Some pics of Papa from Corbis.Com

And some more...

And some more....