A VISIT WITH PAPA

@Benefan: I sometimes lie awake at night worrying about that, Nan.

Nan: Ooops, sorry for making you loose sleep... no need to worry. Really we are relatively harmless

Federer meets with pope


VATICAN CITY (AP) - Top-ranked tennis player Roger Federer met briefly with Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday, shortly before winning his second-round match at the Rome Masters.

"It was an emotional day," Federer said. "Got to shake his hand, exchange a few words in German. It was very special for me."
The meeting occurred during the pope's weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

Later, Federer beat Italian wild card entrant Potito Starace 6-3, 7-6 (2) at the Foro Italico, near the Vatican.

[Modificato da benefan 11/05/2006 2.54]

[In other news reports, it was mentioned that Jeremy first decided he wanted to sing for the pope when he saw him celebrating JPII's funeral mass. Apparently, Jeremy is another victim of the Benaddict Effect.]


Quebec boy with rare condition sings for Pope
CTV.ca News Staff

A young Quebec boy who suffers from a rare genetic birth defect sang for Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Thursday.

Nine-year-old Jérémy Gabriel suffers from Treacher Collins syndrome -- a craniofacial birth defect that causes facial disfigurement and deafness.

After several surgeries, the young boy partially regained his hearing and spent years learning to sing.

He uses a special hearing aid that transmits sound vibrations through his skull bones.

Gabriel said he was "very nervous'' before the performance, in part because his family had been stuck in traffic and almost didn't make it to the Vatican on time.

"My heart was beating very fast. But once I started singing I was fine,'' he told The Associated Press afterwards, speaking in French.

Wearing a rosary given to him by the Pope, the excited youngster performed "I Will Praise the Eternal" in French.

"He said I sang well,'' Gabriel quoted the pontiff as telling him. "We didn't say much but we were both feeling the same thing. We understood each other without speaking."

Gabriel's heart-rending performance came during the pontiff's audience with Canadian bishops.

"There weren't too many of us with dry eyes when he finished singing," Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Archbishop of Quebec, told reporters afterwards.

Gabriel has become something of a celebrity in his home town of Quebec City and he has previously sung with Celine Dion in Las Vegas.

Dion herself sang for Pope John Paul II when he visited Montreal in 1984.

Last fall Gabriel recorded an album of Christmas songs, and in October he was invited to sing the national anthem before a sellout crowd of more than 20,000 fans at a Montreal Canadiens hockey game.

However, the appearances at these prestigious events still fell short of his goal of singing a hymn for the Pope -- an ambition he said he has nurtured since watching the funeral of Pope John Paul II on television last year.

Gabriel's dream was finally honoured when Pope Benedict was told of the boy's wish and was said to be "moved" by his story.

Gabriel left Quebec City for Rome Sunday with his parents and two younger sisters.

His private audience with the Pope took place just before the Pope's blessing of a Quebec-made piece of art called the Ark of the New Covenant.

The ark is a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, which according to the Old Testament, held the tablets containing the Ten Commandments.

The new ark, which is covered in iconic images, will make its way across Canada on its way to the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City in 2008.

Beatrice from French section posted her experience and to help Teresa, I have translated it as follows:

There are at least 40,000 people, and the shouts increase, when Papa’s coat-of-arms is displayed at the window of his study. The weather is splendid, the roman light is bright, but at noon sharp, when Papa’s white silhouette distinguishes itself from the shade of the famous window, it is really a light of another kind of which one perceives its radiance… These photographs are taken with the zoom, from far, are therefore not very clear. Nevertheless, one sees very well the two of them, Georg G. who, at around 11h55, comes to install the microphone, with the assistance of another priest.











A zoom at maximum, to immortalise this "extraordinarily touching" gesture of the arms, which Papa repeats several times - when he arrives, when he greets the groups who cheer him, and again after the blessing: it (the gesture) is not at all the “V” of the victory to which we are accustomed from the sportsmen and from the politicians, but,(it is)greatly the gesture of love of a universal father who wants to gather all his family around him: and, in this sense, it is a really royal gesture

[Modificato da SimplyMe 12/05/2006 11.38]

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Scritto da: SimplyMe 11/05/2006 22.38
Beatrice from French section posted her experience and to help Teresa, I have translated it as follows:

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Merci infiniment pour cette traduction, cher SimplyMe!!!
Amicalement.

Emma's account of the 5/3/06 audience which she attended with Sihaya (Sonia) and Eugenia was originally posted in the 'private room' of the Sante Coccole sisterhood, and I asked her permission to translate and post it in the English section. She subsequently decided to post her Italian account publicly, but in the process, she added an introduction and a conclusion, the translation of which I am posting here.


And so we come to the audience, my audience with my Ratzi, that which I see and perceive, not what the media, VIPs and detractors say, those who linger on those pitiless comparisons with his “beloved predecessor” as he himself loves to say (does this not say anything to them?).

But I can make a visible and an emotional comparison having seen both of them, by pure chance, and both come out very well, each with his own style and charisma.

I had spoken of this audience only privately earlier; Teresa translated my impressions in the English section, but having gone beyond its emotional impact, I would like to share this experience with everyone.

The Roman atmosphere, especially in St. Peter’s Square, is very beautiful, as it is perhaps unnecessary to say to anyone who is Cristian. Even waiting two hours in line to get tickets and another two hours and more to get into the Basilica become a pleasant entertainment under Bernini’s famous colonnade.

It could have been the beautiful day, or the special atmosphere one breathes, or the chatter one exchanges with others who are there fore the same reason. … A male resident of Rome who was there to get tickets for his friends, noted that there had not been as many people here at St. Peter's since the Jubilee year, especially during the Wednesday audiences.

And finally, Sonia and I are at the stairs, in front of the famous Bronze Gate where a Swiss Guard (trivial disappointment: they are less robust than they seem, many of them slight and slender, even a bit ridiculous…)…We are given the longed-for red tickets (it seems the colors change all the time) for ourselves and for Eugenia.

At this point, we part ways: Sonia to the Basilica, I towards the Vatican grotto and the papal tombs.

Ther is a big crowd in line to visit the tomb of John Paul II, mostly Polish pilgrims: some are visibly moved, some kneel, others pray, but everything done fast because they don’t allow any lingering...

A very sad note. During all this, no one even bothered to glance at the tombs of Paul VI and Papa Luciani! Everyone in line, even when it was not moving,simply turned their backs, not the least curious, as if these two Popes had never been part of the immediate past history of the Church! I was probably the only one who stopped to say a prayer before their tombs.

But in the Basilica, a group of faithful are gathered in prayer around the tomb of John XXIII. I am somehow uncomfortable seeing that small embalmed figure exposed that way… Maybe it is because I think that even saints should be allowed to rest in peace…

But to get back to the audience which, to tell the truth, did not start out auspiciously. …
[Here she gives the narrative she has already told us]

It was not so much (the thrill of) seeing him close which, I think is something that borders on idolatry, but hearing him speak in person, seeing how hw moves and what his attitude is towards the faithful who are there for him, especially with the weaker ones or those with whom he can exchange a couple of words (which often becomes more than just a couple of words). I have confirmation: he is shy, reserved (and one understands why), but the press does not help, instead they don’t miss an occasion to ‘delegitimize’ him. And yet he never stops smiling, in wonder almost, that all these people are there for him ... but this does not come across on television…

I had spoken of the difference that I perceibe between him and JPII: many years ago, I happened to see him close as he was going back to the Vatican in the Popemobile. It was fundamental for me to “feel in my skin” the difference, especially because although at that time I was not at all involved in any religious sense, I was nevertheless struck that time by the sensation of peace, move and serenity which John Paul conveyed.

I think JPII had the gift – simply by keeping his gaze steady, with a hand raised in blessing – to convey gentleness and kindess and the sensation that he was looking every person in the eye. Whereas even if he keeps still, Benedict XVI does not have the same innate gift, he must work at it and he does what he can – he smiles, he moves timidly, sweeps his gaze around, he gives you the sensation that he wants to look you in the eye, or at least look in your direction, and then moves his gaze to others, with his arms open, as if he wants to embrace everyone.

And then, the way he greets the sick and the VIPS: no kisses or theatrical embraces, but modest greetings, looking each one in the eye and carrying on a dialog with whoever was able to. He appears thankful for every little manifestation of affection…(Some critic has said that the Pope should never thank anyone, but I think that a dose of humility even for those who write these things is good for everyone.)

With older children, he shakes their hands as though they are little adults. But this way, his way, is poor picking for anecdotes, and the reporters and TV directors find it boring. Even in his speeches, there is no room for pretty phrases and effects which can provoke chanting and applause from the crowd,only silent reflection.

I confirmed that he is not ‘mediatic’, not theatrical, but just chooses to be himself, with a charisma that is his very own, and I like him even more for that.

I know these are not the things that should count in a Pope but this is what the media express their judgments about and I play their game.

But beyond the ‘game,’ what he says – even if I don’t always agree with it completely - never leaves me indifferent, and that is what counts the most.

At the start, for me, I admit "it was the Da Vinci Code." [I don't think I get this!] Now I think of the words with which he opened the audience…t hat the Christianity of tradition is not a collection of things and words, like a box of dead things. … And above all, that “Jesus of the Gospels is demanding and provocative, he is certainly not convenient for us, but because of this, He can respond to the profound expectations of our life, which is – whether we want to acknowledge it or not – oriented towards God, towards a fullness without limits, towards the infinite.”

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Scritto da: TERESA BENEDETTA 13/05/2006 7.15

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Well, I guess everyone feels differently for the 2 popes. For me, JP2 has never impressed me nor influenced me to continue with my faith in Christ, unlike the experience of many other people. But, BXVI does just that and I thank God for BXVI.

JP2 never impressed me with his homilies or speeches either. I think it's probably because of his slow monotonous way of speaking (even during his 'healthy' years). For example, I can never get to listen to his homily during his 1985 papal visit to Lourdes in France without 'falling asleep'. For BXVI, even if he speaks in a language which I don't understand, I will never fall asleep and I always make sure to grab the English/French version of his homily as soon as possible.

In spite of their differences and inspite of my preferences, I still love and appreciate them both.

I believe that God looks on the hearts of the Popes rather than appearances (as mentioned in the book of Samuel when choosing David to replace Saul) before choosing them to lead His people.
We should therefore not allow the media to influence us by judging BXVI's outward appearance and gestures.
I, for one, am glad that he is not as mediatic as JP2.

Last Saturday I went to Rome for Pentecost Vigil!!! In St.Peter Square there were also euge65 and Francesca.Pisa from Italian forum. We'll post our experiences in the thread I NOSTRI INCONTRI CON IL PAPA-EMOZIONI DA RACCONTARE as soon as possible. I've already posted a part of my experience in that thread,but I can't post the second part because I'm in a MacOs computer lab in this moment. MACKINTOSH is a difficult operative system 4 me: 4 this I hate it!!!

Bye by josie '86 from Italian forum

Josie, you italian girls are so blessed being able to visit the GA or the Angelus or masses at St. Peter's. I would love to live in Italia too

Russian Catholics Make Pilgrimage to Rome

Culminates Year of Remembrance of John Paul II

MOSCOW, JUNE 6, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Russian Catholics have just ended what might have been their largest-ever pilgrimage to Rome in the post-Soviet era.

"The main objective of our visit," said Olga Karpova, who organized one of the three buses of pilgrims that went to Rome, "was to pray at the tomb of John Paul II for the intention of his speedy canonization and glorification among the saints and blessed, as well as to meet with his successor, Benedict XVI, to whom we wished to express our love and loyalty."

"At first we thought we were only 92 people in two buses: one 'Muscovite' and the other from 'St. Petersburg,'" Karpova told ZENIT.

"I say it in quotations because in the Moscow bus there were people from other regions, such as Smolensk, Vladimir, Ivanov, Volgograd and St. Petersburg itself; and in 'Peter's' there were people from the regions of Petrozavodsk, Murmansk, Kaliningrad, Novgorod and other parishes of the northwest of Russia," Karpova explained.

"However, as there were so many people who wanted to join the pilgrimage, another bus was added with people from more distant regions, such as Nizhni Novgorod, Tyumen, Rostov-na-Dony and others," she added. "So, on May 16 in John Paul II's crypt and in Benedict XVI's audience in St. Peter's Square on the 17th there were about 150 Russian Catholics together. It was the largest group in the modern history of the Russian Catholic Church."

Remembrance

The pilgrimage was the culmination of the Year in Remembrance of John Paul II, which the Catholic Church in that country observed.

What was the reason for such great interest? What drove, for example, a person from Siberia, to travel so many days by bus and train to pray at a Mass with the Pope?

Victor Khrul, editor of the Russian Catholic newspaper Svet Evangelia, told ZENIT: "Neither in the time of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union nor the now Russian Federation, have Catholics of this country had the opportunity to pray beside the Holy Father.

"Until now no Pope has been able to come to Russia and to realize this dream to pray with him; Catholics have had to go to other countries. During the Soviet era this was unthinkable, as one could not leave the territory."

Khrul continued: "Some criticize us because they say that we Catholics 'idealize' or make the Pope a kind of 'fetish.' They say we can see the Pope on television or hear him on the radio. However, it isn't the same.

"Even if it is in a huge crowd, it is a great emotion to see him, an unrepeatable experience. As if this were not enough, going on pilgrimage is a not-so-easy spiritual work which requires much restraint and patience, but which gives many gifts."

Not alone

Olga Karpova told of the impact of the trip on the pilgrims: "Many have written to me that at the moment of the general audience in St. Peter's Square they realized for the first time the strength of the Catholic Church."

She said the pilgrims expressed the view that "We realized that we are not alone, that we are not marginalized and, most importantly, that we are a necessary part of the Body of Christ. For us, the meeting with the Pope was the fulfillment of a dream and a gift of God."

At first it was expected that only 70 of the 150 pilgrims would be taking part in a Eucharistic celebration at John Paul II's tomb, presided over by the Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of the Mother of God in Moscow Archdiocese.

Resigned, the pilgrims cast lots to see who would be able to be in the crypt. In the end, permission was given to the whole group. At the tomb, pilgrims left the petitions of hundreds of Russian believers who were unable to go to Rome.

During the May 17 general audience with Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square, the Russian pilgrims were told that only 20 or 30 of them at most would be in a special area where the Holy Father was. In the end, all 150 pilgrims were able to be beside the Pope.

At the end of the audience, the pilgrims gave Benedict XVI a Russian translation of his encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est." Archbishop Kondrusiewicz said the Pope was happy with the publication of the document in Russian.

Euge65 (Suor Eugenia Giuseppina) and Francesca.Pisa met up in Rome for the great assembly on the eve of Pentecost, but failed to link up with Josie86 (Antonella from Salerno) who was just on the other side of St. Peter's Square from them.

Here are translations of an account, first by Eugenia who, being a Rome resident, has become the unofficial hostess for visiting members of the Forum, and then a partial account by Josie.
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Dearest ones…

Finally I find a moment to post my experience on June 3 and June 4, days which I will remember with an emotion as great as that I felt on March 5 and April 19 earlier this year.

My experience started a few days earlier because of telephone exchanges with Francesca, first about reserving tickets and then about meeting each other on Saturday morning.

So on Saturday, June 3, after a brief telephone call to establish how we were going to recognize each other for the first time, and after having gone through the metal detectors to arrive at the Bronze Door, we finally met each other in the room where they give out the tickets, below a portrait of Benedict who looked at us as if amused. We greeted each other and went down to St. Peter’s Square.

Since we had time to spare, we decided to take a tour inside the Vatican walls, and having some medical prescriptions to fill (at the Vatican pharmacy), we were allowed to enter…. It may have been just a little tour but the very idea of being within the Pope’s teritory was itself a cause for great emotion! We stopped at the Vatican post office to drop a letter to… guess who?

We went back to the Piazza and decided to visit the bookstores. Francesca finally got a copy of Monsignor Stenico’s book of beautiful photographs, whereas I contented myself this time with a beautiful little book called “I Pensieri Sprituali di Benedetto” (Benedict’s Spiritual Thoughts) containing short but very significant passages taken from his homilies, audiences and Angelus messages.

After a brief break to eat and drink something, we went back to the Piazza. I could not thank Francesca enough for the DVD she gave me on which she had recorded the Pope’s entire trip to Poland, as well as the famous video clip of Joseph playing the piano. You could not have given me a more beautiful gift - Thank you with all my heart, Francesca!…

Meanwhile, as Josie recounts [in her own narration – she came to Rome with a group from her hometown Salerno], we were exchanging messages on our cell phones trying to arrange how we could meet up, but the crowd was so huge, and the ‘organization’ of the Italian police was... well…no comment! …But the security people did their best, that was obvious…

We started to ask around how to enter the Square and came up against the first problem… We were holding blue tickets for June 3 and we were told that meant we were allowed on the Via della Conciliazione but not in the Piazza itself!

Francesca rang the Police Prefecture at the Vatican which, oddly enough, answered. She explained that she was from out of town, and obviously she wanted to be in the Piazza, especially considering that she had mailed in her request specifically to have tickets for the Piazza. Would you believe they told us to come and change the tickets? And so we went back to the Bronze Door!!!

Happily, we joined the queue under the sun to get into the Piazza….Finally, once we got through the metal detector, we ran and got to the front sector on the left, but only in third row! We were not too happy about that but, never despair!…

Time passed slowly…but finally, the moment came for Benedict’s entrance!

I pointed out the belltower and told Francesca to watch as he would come out through the Arch of Bells. She settled herself next to the barrier, while I used some force and was able to displace someone next to the barrier, and I too clung to it.

Finally, there he was – as beautiful as the sun! Without his zucchetto, and with his hair blown by the wind!…What a marvel!

The crowd was delirious – chants, banners, streamers, young people celebrating – all for him! I feel a lump in my throat…

We see him, and even if it is only briefly, we see him, we greet him, and I send him a bunch of flying "smakkoti”….Francesca is very happy and emotional…

We follow the rest of his Popemobile tour on the giant screens…We think about Josie and we hope she will succeed in seeing him close.

Everyone is in festive mood. Once in a while, the Pope stops to kiss babies or to shake hands with the faithful. These are scenes I can never forget….

Finally, he arrives at the space in front of the Basilica…The celebration of Vespers follows… It was a beautiful ceremony – the first one of its kind I had ever attended. What a first time!…

Then it is time for the homily. It was intense and powerful as ever, but at the same time, delivered in that gentle voice which goes straight to the heart. …

The time passes between prayers, songs, lighting candles, and interventions by representatives of the movements gathered there….

We are getting towards the end… Evening begins to fall… I might note that clouds and rain had been forecast for the afternoon but instead the sun was out and everything went well.

The crowds once again acclaimed the Pope festively at the end of the ceremony…

Francesca and I parted ways after agreeing on where to meet the next day, Pentecost Sunday….

I went down Via della Conciliazione which was still filled with singing crowds, waving banners. I turned back and saw the Piazza with the fountains lit up and the façade of St. Peter’s as well...I did not want to leave… I wanted time to stop so I could remain and be not far from Joseph, to thank him for all the feelings that he awakens in my heart and in my soul. To thank him for having met a new friend in Francesca….Thank you, Joseph!

P.S. we never managed to meet up with Josie, but the exchange of messages brought us nearer obviously… So Josie, you'll see, sooner or later, we will meet each other!

Suor Eugenia Giuseppina
Ordine Benedettino delle Suore
delle Sante Coccole al Romano Pontefice
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JOSIE'S STORY

It was 7 a.m. of June 3 when the bus carrying my group Rinnovamento (Renewal) left for St. Peter’s Square in Rome for my second appointment with Benedict, this time for the Vespers of Pentecost.

I was all excited and emotional. I wanted to scream my heart out inside the bus so that it could take us directly and instantly to our destination. Inside the bus, the atmosphere was joyful and celebratory. We prayed, we sang joyful hymns of renewal, we joked a lot…

I opened my cell phone and noted one new message received. Who could it be? It was from Gabriella-Josephine who reminded me not to lose sight of the ‘two brothers’!…

I take the opportunity to send an SMS fIrst to Francesca-Pisa and then to euge65 to inform them of my expected arrival time. …After a while, my Nokia rings…. Message from Francesca – she says she would be in Rome by 10 a.m. and would inform me then where she was. …Then, there came a message from Euge, telling me she was going to take part in the Vespers. Great… There will be three of us. I was already imagining our meeting.

11:30 am (or a bit earlier). Our bus stops at Piazza della Liberta, and from there I walk with my group towards St. Peter’s Square. I inform my two Forum sisters by SMS that I am there.

It is noontime. We stop before a church in Largo Visconti. Euge and Francesca’s SMS arrive, informing me that they are at the start of the colonnade on the right side facing the Basilica. I note that we are on the left side. I wanted to join them but they tell me that the entrance to the Piazza is still closed and won’t open until 2 p.m. I send them back more messages asking them how they managed to enter, etc.

12:30 We have been moving down the Largo Visconti and finally get to the barriers at the start of the colonnade. I inform my friends where I am – at the start of the colonnade but on the left side!

In my mind, I was thinking of going towards the right side, after informing my coordinator and perhaps asking to be accompanied by one other person in my group. I asked one of the girls but she refused, fearing we would lose our way, so I had no choice but to stay, and sent a sad message to Francesca and Euge.

Meanwhile, the crowd was growing. The incompetent police (excuse me, I have to say it) did nothing – except to stay in front of the barriers, but sometimes they disappeared!...We were already two hours behind the barriers and still they would not let us in! One of us asked a policemen when they would do so, and he replied, “Only if any group that is already inside will come out!” But the other policemen were not doing anything to let those groups come out!

2:30. At last, my group is allowed in. I look in my purse to see if I have my blue pass, and it’s not there! Passing between policemen, I make myself as small as I can… and I am able to pass through undisturbed without having to show a ticket! Same thing when I had to go to the rest room (very clean this time!)…

And here is the sector where we are supposed to be according to the color of our pass: the last streetlamp on the left side of the Piazza - where the Apostolic Movement was located with their huge streamer (which annoyed a lot of people because it kept them from seeing the giant TV screen). One of our coordinators said, “I am going to burn that streamer!”

END OF PART ONE

P.S. Excuse me for the laughter [posticons]…It was a strange day – In some situations, one doesn’t know whether to cry or to laugh…I chose to laugh…I will tell you next time why I have been laughing!
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[She explains in a subsequent post that she was sending her story from her university's Mackintosh lab, and she had problems with using the Mac...So presumably she will try to complete her story on a regular PC].

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 11/06/2006 16.31]

How refreshing to read about these forum members being in Rome together for the Pentecost Vigil and enjoying themselves so immensely, despite the crowds. This is how it should be for all of us - joyful and sharing!
I watched it all on EWTN. Well done,Papa, for having his jeep go down the Via della Conciliazione, so that the people there could see him too.
Thank you for posting these accounts. It has restored my faith in human nature.
Love and Peace always - Mary x

a thousand thank yous to Teresa for translating and posting our Italian sisters' PENTECOST VIGIL ASSEMBLY report. a thousand thank yous to Benefan for all the wonderful articles you post but especially the latest about the Russian pilgrims in St Peter's Square for an audience. Even just walking into St Peter's Square the 1st time was emotional for me... the next day, 1st time in the Basilica was totally overwhelming! Thanks Benefan for reminding me of my trip!!!

oh my,this stories remind me of my trip too !!! It really is so special to be in the Square and see Papa,get the feel of the atmosphere and all the happy people !

You're welcome, Nan. I liked the Russian pilgrims article too. My mom's side of the family was from Russia so it struck a chord.

Here is a translation of it - the capital letters are sentences she posted in capital letters, but I cannot reproduce all the emoticons that her account is peppered with...

Once we arrived at our sector, some of us had to go to the bathrooms under the colonnade. I had to go also, but my coordinator said I would need my pass (…but). So I made my way among the policemen without having to present the pass which I did not have. While walking, I noticed a beautiful young man (a Swiss Guard) and coming back I passed through a sector full of young people. Some were stretched on the pavement, some strummed guitars, some chatted, some prayed, some just made a lot of noise…It seemed like WYD!

Back at my place, I went nearer the fountain under the lamppost and quneched my thirst. My coordinator wanted to invite the sisters in the group to recite the 'Coroncina' of Divine Mercy. I prayed along with them.

15:30. Monsignor Frisina arrives. He wants us to rehearse the songs in the booklet for the Vespers service which was given to us as we entered. I leafed through it and found a German hymn called GROSSER GOTT, its first words being”Grosser Gott, wir loben dich..” [Great God, we praise you..](But isn’t this the hymn that Ratzinger speaks of in ‘La Mia Vita” ? It’s the hymn Big Georg played at the end of the war to thank God that he and Joseph had returned safe and sound?]

Later, I listened to the singing of other groups, but the audio was terrible. In the interval between one hymn and the next, here came Mons. Clemens to speak – Giorgio’s rival! I was impressed by his look, his attractiveness, and his excellent Italian! I got a very good impression!

After him, other movement representatives took turns speaking…Singing went on…

Meanwhile, it had become beastly hot at the Piazza. I remembered my mother’s words, which I should have listened to: “Antonella...Bring an umbrella!”

17:15 The moment I have been waiting for is nearing: TO SEE THE POPE FOR THE SECOND TIME AND PHOTOGRAPH HIM. ….I inform my coordinator that I will be temporarily gone. She gives me permission! I take my knapsack and camera with me and go towards the barrier which was not too far from where I was (in the middle of the sector).

When I get to the barrier, I realize that there are quite a few people already in place…But I don’t lose heart and try to make my way through, but they won’t let me through (WELL, PEOPLE, I DID NOT COME HERE ONLY TO ATTEND THE VESPERS BUT ALSO TO SEE AND PHOTOGRAPH THE POPE! AND I WON’T BE STOPPED BY THE LIKES OF YOU!] I still tried to wedge myself in but a nun told me in Spanish (or Portuguese) – You can’t go through! …I get up on a chair, but a policeman tells me to get down… As soon as he goes away, I get up on the chair again…

A Swiss Guard approaches the barrier to give some information to a pilgrim. I amuse myself by comparing how high I am (standing on the chair) to his height. (TIME TO JOIN THE SWISS GUARDS MAYBE).

Behind me, a northern Italian young man (from the Veneto or the Friuli region) is pushing hard on my shoulder with his elbow (TAKE IT OFF NOW OR I WILL HIT YOU WITH A KARATE BLOW AND…)

As you can see, there in the middle of all those people, I felt closed in; I felt a little bullyish, fizzy, agitated, humorous, but one who wanted to send home anyone who blocked my way…I WAS A STEW OF SENTIMENTS!...But in front of that little throng I wanted to scream like Addriano Pappalardo [an Italian comedian perhaps?] when a drawer slams shut on his finger….Maybe because I suffered from a bit of claustrophobia!...

15:30 (or later). THE POPE COMES OUT! Excited and with my thoughts back in harmony, I take the camera. I ask the lady next to me where the Pope was going to pass. She doesn’t know.

So I wait and wait….until…...STUNK!

Here comes the Popemobile from the left side with the Pope!!! WITH HIS HAIR AS WHITE AS THE SNOW ON MONT BLANC, WITH THE RED CAPE, SMILING AND JOYOUS LIKE EASTER…BLESSING THE CROWD…ON THE RIGHT…ON THE LEFT… !!!!...

Behind him I glimpse Giorgio who has his back turned to me!...And a gorilla (bodyguard). AND BIG GEORG? UNFORTUNATELY, HE WASN’T THERE. I remember briefly how much Gabriella-Josephine wanted to have a photograph of the two brothers…But now I MUST LOOK AT THE POPE!

TUTU...TUTU...TUTUTU.... My heart has become like the high-speed train….I program the camera…BUT HERE IS THE POPE COMING NEAR MY SECTOR!!!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
His look rests on me and he has that ‘fecchio folpone’ [vecchio volpone - old wolf] look that we all know: he raises his eyebrows and opens his eyes wide!!!!

I take two shots, but….maybe the camera was overwhelmed or I was…but…the battery compartment came open and the batteries fell to the ground!... (Brava, Antonella, you really did your best today!]

I step off the chair, pick up the batteries, reload them, switch the camera back on to see if it saved the photos I took…NOT ONE PHOTO SAVED! ZERO!...I can only curse myself and the camera….

Sad, angry, frustrated, I go back to my group and I message some Forum members of my failed mission!!!!....A little later, two SMS answers arrive: from Francesca and Monica…sending words of comfort, saying this experience was proof of my love for Joseph, so I should listen to his words and live in the moment…(THANKS A MILLION, GIRLS!!! YOU MADE THE DAY RIGHT FOR ME!!!)

While the Pope spoke, I took pictures of the giant TV screen…I tried hard to listen to his homily but my group was a rather lazy and not really interested in the Pope’s words, chatting and cracking jokes while he spoke! (It’s OK that they re similarly distracted during Mass but I want to to hear the words of my Beloved!)

On the TV, I see the Pope seated with his hands resting on the Pentecost vestments (MAMMA MIA! I could die when I see you with your hands like that! You seem like a boy!)….Then I see him smile like a littel rascal [birbantello] when the torches are lit… (BUT WHAT A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE RASCAL!)

…The Vespers conclude. I want to go back next to the barrier to photograph him again. I thought the Popemobile would once again pass through all the sectors. But the coordinator kept me back, saying we had to return to our bus….Later, as we left St. Peter’s square, I understood that the Pope left the Piazza directly…..

All along Via della Conciliazione, I see water bottles, cardboard boxes, beer bottles even, littered on the street…THEY DON’T UNDRSTAND ANYTHING!!...A girl gives out flyers announcing a prayer vigil with the Pope on June 16!!!...

A few steps away from the bus, I see across the street a good-lloking monsignor with someone who seemed to be his housekeeper. He looked a bit like Clemens!...

Once inside the bus, I wrote an SMS to the Forum girls and asked if they did any better with their photos. Monica (Paparaxvi) shortly after answered that she had followed the whole event on TV and that she would be ready within a while to post her screen-caps on the Forum.

On the way back to Salerno, I listened to Robbie Williams’s I’M LOVING ANGELS INSTEAD and I started to recall all the events of the day. I shed a tear remembering but ended up smiling! I thought – I HAVE LIVED AN UNFORGETTABLE DAY!...HAPPY ARE EUGENIA AND FRANCESCA WHO WILL BE BACK TOMORROW FOR A REPEAT! [The two would attend the Pope’s Penteost Sunday Mass.]

Excuse me if the narration seems a bit inflated in parts, but these were the emotions I felt that day! A most beautiful day which I was going to turn into a bad day just because I failed to photograph the Pope from nearby! But now thinking about it, I saw him, and I experienced a most beautiful thing! That’s the important thing!...As for the photos I did take, I will try to post them.

I think this entry today by Stupor-Mundi was prompted by having seen the Pope at the last audience on Wednesday. She does not say so specifically, but since she posted it today in INCONTRI CON IL PAPA...in the main forum, I am almost sure it was. As we have read in previous accounts by her, she has occasion to be in Rome every now and then because of her work.

What she says here is not a description of the occasion but her general feelings about the Pope, which as she says, is something we all share, however different we all are and from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Here is a translation -
---------------------------------------------------------------

Emotions after a Papal audience

From the many thoughts I have read in this forum, which I thought about immediately after the audience, I share two most particularly.

The first is a very strange feeling: Joseph Ratzinger is not even aware I exist, but I feel as if I have known him for a long time. His features, his voice, are as familiar to me as those of the persons most dear to me. Sometimes at the end of one of his beautiful homilies, I feel a strange impulse, a desire to embrace him and say Thank you.

The second – and this, I believe, Sybella recently described – is that he really has everything. I cannot call to mind anybody else to whom so many gifts have been given, so many qualities: beauty, kindness (dolcezza), intelligence, sensitivity, a love for the beautiful and for the arts, goodness, attention to others, culture, courage… In him, the Lord has truly given His gifts in abundance.

I can only thank Him for having given me the opportunity to experience my present time on earth with such a personality, with such a guiding light. He took my worn-out faith and infused it with new blood. He has made me understand how beautiful it is and what a great gift it is to belong to the Catholic Church.

I pray the Lord that He may keep Benedict XVI with us for long and grant him health of body and spirit so he may continue to guide the Church with courage, and give to so many others the joy that he has given me.

One last remark: I have been very happy to learn, thanks to this forum, that there are so many persons, coming from so many different countries, with different experiences and backgrounds, but who, I believe, share my sentiments.

I wish that through the Holy Spirit, the Holy Father may be able, even for a single instant, to perceive in some almost “physical” manner how much we love him and how much we thank him for having said Yes that April 19th to the Lord who asked him to lead the Church as his Vicar.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Last year, she had this very brief report after she was at an audience.

I have just returned from Rome. I was at the audience on Wednesday (7/14/05).

A stupendous experience, a special atmosphere.

He was, as always, great! (IMMENSO)

When he started his catechesis, all of a sudden, that Piazza crwoded with some 50,000 people, became silent.

At the end, he spent at least half an hour meeting people, granting so much, up to the moment when he finally went beyond the Bell Arch…

If you are in Rome, do not miss attending an audience!

---------------------------------------------------------------

In previous accounts, whose translations have been posted here (and in ENCOUNTERS WITH THE FUTURE POPE), she has narrated details.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/06/2006 17.11]

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/06/2006 17.13]

Foundation continues visits with pope

By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer

June 20, 2006, 3:13 PM EDT

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Hope for Tomorrow Foundation's work providing surgery to needy children was inspired during a 1994 visit with Pope John Paul II, who for years afterward warmly welcomed young patients and their doctors at the Vatican.

For children helped by the foundation, the road to recovery will continue to include a papal visit, despite John Paul's death in 2005. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, appears willing to carry on the tradition and recently had his first visit from the Buffalo group.

"He understood that we had a number of audiences with his predecessor. He encouraged us to come back," said Dr. Jeffrey Meilman, the foundation's chairman.

Meilman and others from the organization brought along Izabela Baketaric, who spent time in Buffalo in 2004 when she was 8. Izabela, at the age of 1, had been severely burned in her home in Bosnia when her blanket was ignited by a fireplace spark. In Buffalo, Meilman, a plastic surgeon, reconstructed her nose, resurfaced her face with new skin and implanted hair on her scalp.

During the May 31 visit, Pope Benedict XVI spent several minutes talking to the girl and her mother, Gordana, Meilman said.

It continued the tradition begun when Pope John Paul II met with a badly burned Polish teenager and the western New York volunteers who had helped him. The pope pushed the group to form a foundation to continue such work.

Since then, the foundation has helped several hundred children in Russia, Cuba, Poland, India, Jamaica and elsewhere, bringing the most severe cases to the United States. About 20 children met with Pope John Paul II during a dozen visits.

"When the previous holy father was failing, we didn't know if the papal connection would continue," said Brian Rusk, a foundation board member, "and it has beautifully continued."

"It gives (the patients) courage to go through the misery that they're going through," Meilman said of the papal blessings. "They'll travel halfway around the world."

Izabela's mother, distraught that her daughter's deformities would prevent her from living a normal life, had prayed for a miracle months before being contacted by Hope for Tomorrow.

She was overcome upon meeting the pope, Meilman said.

"She was as close to fainting as anyone could be," he said. "It was a big thing for her."

In the main forum, the irrepressible Anna, who has taken fairly well to the 'censorship' of some of her recent too-ardent messages about Papa by the administrators, reports her excursion to Les Combes today for the Angelus. Here is a translation -

Dearest ones...here I am back from Les Combes...It was a most beautiful day. I woke up at 6, washed and dressed in a rush, and got into the car, destination Paradise!!!!!

Arriving at 8:30, I had to open up my purse which caused the metal detectors to go BIPPPP!!!! I ran and found a seat in front of the wooden pavilion on the left side...And for the next 3-1/2 hours, I was cooked to a turn by the heat...I drank a liter of water, and it was all I could do to keep myself from .....but I thought of him, and held myself...

At 12:55, after a beautiful Mass celebrated by Mons. Anfossi, he arrived...our idol, sun-bronzed, "Paradisiac"!!!...My husband snapped pictures like mad, including the more interesting streamers like those of Comunione e Liberazione, etc...

We all prayed together...There were so many young people who sang and played musical instruments..There was so much joy!!!...I would have wanted to get even nearer, but it was terrific just the same!!!

But I must say that when you see our Joseph, you forget all the heat, the waiting, the thirst...It is always a wonderful experience, and I must add I have been blessed with good fortune in these papal encounters [Anna was with Paparatzifan, Gabriella and Eugenia for that memorable April 19 anniversary audience at St. Peter's]

Right now, give me a little more time to post the pictures...I may need some help from colleagues in the Forum...Who knows, maybe one day I might even succeed in planting a kiss on HIM...obviously with his permission ...like that nurse at Bambino Gesu hospital!...Mmmmm....

Greetings, sisters, and you will hear from me soon with the 'photo service'...Once again, I humbly ask you to excuse me for my...sometimes excessive impetuousness!

'Ratzosi' kisses from the mountains...

-------------------------------------------------------------

Ratzigirl commented:

What permission?!?! You think the nurse asked permission? And suppose he says no? Would you waste the opportunity?

Seconded by Paparatzifan:

It's true. I've not noticed anyone asking his permission!...One must dare gently when one has the opportunity!...After all, we know it pleases him!


gradisce gradisce....!!!!!!!!!!!


Further rejoinder by Francesca.Pisa -

Yes, it pleases him, it does! Take it from me -

Some time ago, I was present at a general audience in Piazza San Pietro when I had the infinite joy of meeting his look at a moment when instead of waving my hand to greet him (from afar)as most people do, I sent him flying kisses instead, and he looked at me with one of his most beautiful expressions showing both pleasure and thanks, as if to say "All for me?" It was a fleeting instant, but I was sure he was very happy!!!

That is why I am convinced that we must dare always and in whatever way or moment or context, because it pleases our Papino infinitely - he knows that a kiss is the best demonstration of love, of affection, of closeness, so he accepts it that way....After all, if that were not so, he wouldn't be the Pope of love and joy, don't you think????!!!!!!

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/07/2006 15.01]

This streamer by a Comunione e Liberazione group (CL) reads:
"Wounded by the desire for beauty" -
an expression from Don Giussani, the saintly CL founder, who was a kindred spirit to Joseph Ratzinger.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/07/2006 2.22]

Danich, a member who has been with the Forum only since June, was at Les Combes last Sunday and has posted her account of that experience in the main forum. Here is a translation.

My first encounter with Benedict
Les Combes 23/07/2006

What an exceptional experience! What good fortune! Up till Friday, we did not know how to get there. We had considered taking the regular bus to Introd and then climbing up on foot, but on Saturday, we met a very nice lady parishioner of Don Aldo, one of the 'organizers' for the Pope's vacation. She was going to Les Combes for the Angelus and could take us in her car....

So we left Aosta and arrived in Introd at 8:20 - already we were vehicle #420 enroute to Les Combes. Even in this we were 'shamefully' fortunate because the car went up to the final stop, right to the vacation home of the Salesians. Our host had a pass for handicapped visitors (for a member of her family who was not in the same car as us - in fact, we were asking ourselves, "And if they ask us who is the invalid on board?" I would have passed for mentally invalid if only to arrive first and be able to see Ratzi better!)

Then we had to line up to have our knapsacks checked. Water bottles without caps [whoever goes to sports events is familiar with how to get around this problem], and at one point, I was asked, "What are these stones?" I had picked up two beautiful stones typical of Valtournenche and had left them in my knapsack. I was going to beg them, "Please don't take them away - they are stones from the White Peaks!", but they let me pass...

Thanks to Don Aldo, we had seats near the Pope's pavilion, on the side of the Madonna's statue, right behind the VIPs. I was very very excited - it would be my first time to see Ratzi and from so close!!!!!

The heat was terrible, the sun was savage, and the clouds did not go fast enough to cover it and give us a bit of coolness...

At 10:30 Mass was celebrated...And at the end, here he was coming towrds us.....My heart pounded widly, my hands were trembling as if I had Parkinson's, and the photos I took with my cellphone all came out blurred (I hope those I took with an old-style camera will turn out well!).

The atmosphere was happy but it was apparent that he did not really wish to 'celebrate' and that he wanted to say something about the war in the Middle East...Yes, he smiled, he was cordial, but not his usual self perhaps - he mixed up the pages, he was a bit confused during the recital of the Angelus...but he was exceptionally beautiful, not in the physical sense...it was a beauty that radiated from his being...I don't know how to describe it!

..And when he was saying farewell, I felt - as some of you have said before - as if he were greeting me personally, as if he knew that in that multitude there was me, myself, as if we had known each other for a long time...

What a magnificent day! What a stroke of fortune for us!

But, let us all commit ourselves to praying for peace - this is the only message that I wished to pass on today. The power of prayer is unimaginable. Let us try to take a few minutes each day to pray for this intention.

It is really too bad that I had no way of recognizing Anna who was also there...as I knew she would be, because I was told earlier...I apologize, Anna, but how lovely to think that in that remote place two members of the Papa Ratzinger Forum were present! I think that even if the Pope were to go to Guinea or to the Antarctic, one of us would manage to be there!

However, our dear Benedict also visited places during this vacation that I did (Courmayeur, Our Lady of Healing, Great St. Bernard...), but I did not have the same 'shameless' fortune as I had at Les Combes to meet him 'in loco'...or maybe it was providential, because I would have died of an infarct if I had suddenly found myself meeting him without warning!

----------------------------------------------------------------
Sihaya replied to Danich's post with this comment:

Thank you for your beautiful and emtional account! We have lived, rather re-lived, with you the touching and totally engaging experience of a meeting with the Pope. That is why we can understand you very well when you speak of the BEAUTY that radiates from him. It is a wave of light...But, as Dante said, "intender non la puo chi non la pruova" (literally, it can't be understood by anyone who has not experienced it).
----------------------------------------------------------------

Of course, dear Sihaya, nothing can equal a live encounter with the Pope, but such is the force of Benedict's inner glow that it shines out through his pictures, and so, even us who have not been as fortunate to see him in person, have always caught and basked in that glow... Anche virtualmente, si 'pruova', si!...

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 31/08/2006 14.42]

Our two sisters from the Italian forum were in Castel Gandolfo today, and Euge promises an account as soon as she recovers from her latest 'celestial vision' of Papino...But she says she and Gabriella are still in a state between mystical and STUNKKKKKK so she asks for our patience. She also promises an account of going through Borgo Pio and St. Peter's 'by night' .

Music students play for Pope Benedict


BY KIMBERLY FORNEK | STAFF WRITER
kfornek@pioneerlocal.com
Chicago

A group of 43 young violinists traveled to Rome in June to play for the pope, but almost missed their opportunity by having seats far back from the pontiff amidst tens of thousands of people. But their teacher, Betty Haag-Kuhnke, took matters into her own hands, so not only the pope heard her students, but so did the throngs who filled St. Peter's Square.

Talia Beechick, a 14-year-old violinist from North Barrington, described the June 21 performance as "very exciting. It was by far the biggest crowd we ever played before. It was pure amazement seeing all those faces looking up."

Pope Benedict XVI was "very close by, only a few feet away," she said.

DeLaney Harter of Arlington Heights said the crowd was enormous.

"And we were broadcast on the big TV screen in the square so everyone could see us. It was surreal," said Harter, who will be an eighth-grader at Thomas Middle School this year.

Violinists

Both DeLaney and Beechick have been taking violin lessons at the Betty Haag Academy of Music, now located in Buffalo Grove, since they were 3 years old. Haag started the school in Mount Prospect 34 years ago, adopting Shinichi Suzuki's philosophy that children can learn a musical instrument at a very early age. The school, which moved to the former Jacob Duman Jewish Community Center at 1250 Radcliffe Road in Arlington Heights in September, has more than 450 students, from toddlers to high school age. The majority study violin, but piano and viola lessons are offered, too.

A select number of Haag's students representing a variety of ages perform concerts across the country and throughout the world as the Magical Strings of Youth.

"My students have played for two popes, two presidents, at the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center," Haag said.

The violinists have performed in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the Republic of Kazakhstan, Germany and France. Beechick and DeLaney traveled to South Korea, Portugal and Austria as members of the Magical Strings of Youth.

"The children have really played all over the world," Haag said.

The group's celebrity started in 1979 after they played to welcome Pope John Paul II when he came to Chicago. Jane Byrne was the city's mayor then.

Pope late

"We had played for some kind of social function of Byrne's," Haag said. "She called and asked if I would take my students out to the airport. We played while the pope's plane was arriving, but his plane was late."

So, the young violinists kept on playing. "The children were on every TV channel" as the television cameras awaited the pope's arrival.

"After that, I was bombarded with calls," Haag said.

In 1987, her students played for the pope at the Vatican as part of an Italian concert tour. On that visit, a priest had escorted the Magical Strings to their seats in St. Peter's Square. Aware that they would have no such escort this year, Haag began to worry the night before their June 21 appearance.

"I had a real uneasy feeling," Haag said.

She and a friend on the trip decided to visit St. Peter's Square that night.

Walk to Vatican

"We walked to the Vatican. There were 25,000 seats all roped off for people who were invited, and we knew there would be another 100,000 people standing behind them."

Haag walked toward the front.

"It was about 11:30 p.m. I almost got to the altar," she said, when a guard called out "Halt."

"I explained the problem, how with the red tickets we had we would be seated way far back, but he couldn't speak English. As we were standing there, about six priests were coming into the Vatican. Five of them just walked away, but the sixth priest stopped. He told us he was Fr. John Kennedy from Dublin, Ireland."

Haag explained the seating situation.

"I asked if he knew a priest who could help get us in. He was very, very sweet, but he said all the priests are on vacation. Then I was really bold. I said, 'What about you?' He said he had to work."

Meeting time

When Haag learned he started work at 8:30 a.m., she asked him to meet her group at 8:15.

Kennedy kept his word and escorted the performers to the front of the seats.

"It is heavily guarded. The kids had to open their violin cases to pass security. He took us right up to the steps. We couldn't have gotten closer."

The Magical Strings were scheduled to play during 30 seconds of the Mass. If they went longer, they would be cut off, Haag was told.

But first, Vatican workers asked the children to play for a sound check. "Their sound system was amazing," Haag said.

After the sound check, the guards asked if the children would like to go on the steps before the Mass starts and entertain the audience. The violinists memorize the music for the concert, so they don't need music stands, and they have no conductor. But usually they have a piano to accompany them.

No piano

In St. Peter's Square, there was no piano.

"I was afraid they would fall apart, but even the young ones seemed to realize this was a moment in history and they had better really listen and play together," Haig said.

They group played a total of about 45 minutes.

Pope Benedict delivered a sermon at 11 a.m. Before he left the square, "he stopped and prayed with the children and blessed them," Haag said.

"We were five feet from the pope," DeLaney said. The experience will be a lifelong memory "because he is such an important figure" DeLaney added.

The children had been out in 90-plus degree heat from 8 a.m. until noon. But they were prepared.

"In 1987, a couple of children fainted from the heat," Haag said. So this time the group brought umbrellas and lots of water.

"It was very hot," Beechick said. "We had umbrellas up to keep us shaded and to keep the violins in tune. A bit longer, and all the violins would have gone out of tune."

"Afterwards we thanked Fr. Kennedy," Haag said. "We asked, 'Could you hear the children?' He said he could hear it from his office window, and it was beautiful. I told him you were our divine intervention."

Benefan, thanks for the article. I'm sure I saw and heard these kids, but it was at a general audience on St Peter's Square, while the article speaks of a Mass. And the 21 June was on a Wednesday. Perhaps the lady doesn't know the difference between a Mass and an Audience. And she speaks of Benedict's who started his "sermon" at 11 am. She doesn't seem to be Catholic. But the kids were quite good and I remember it was a verrrrrry hot day. Sweet.

Papino as I saw him last Sunday at his Palace in Castel Gandolfo during the Angelus.
I know I should add more, and I will do so as soon as I find the time, but...those of you who heard the Angelus or read about it know that it possibly was, as Teresa Benedetta put it, the most beautiful one so far...

[Modificato da Sybella 26/08/2006 22.06]

Finally, Gabriella-Josephine gives us an account of the Angelus she and Eugenia attended at Castel Gandolfo on 7/30/06, Papa's first Angelus after his Les Combes vacation:

Rome's central train station (Stazione Termini) was unusually airy with very few people around eight o'clock this Sunday morning, and how nice to be able to walk through it in calm for a change...

Seated on the edge of a black marble bench, I look towards Track 22, waiting for the train going to Albano Laziale which will bring us to Castel Gandolfo.

On the other side, a priest is seated. Near him, another 2 or 3 persons with prayer books in hand and carrying backpacks from the recent WYD lead us to believe we are all bound for the same destination.

Once on board a rundown coach which looks neglected, we take our seats in the first row on the right, next to the window, to the pleasant accompaniment of psalms from a group of French pilgrims who are singing half-loud, almost inviting us to listen dutifully.

When the doors close punctually and silently, I feel my heart skip a beat....

The train moves slowly...Having left the smoky humidity of Rome behind us, the train climbs imperceptibly though yellowing fields. Inside, we are revived once in a while by a gust of air which invades the coach....Along the brief route, a few passengers get on, probably headed for the lakes.

Four tiny military helicopters are parked on the parched airstrip at Ciampino. Shortly afterwards, a surprisingly sudden view of the greeenish expanse of Lake Alban reminds us that we are almost at our destination...

The desolate train station of Castel Gandolfo consists of a solitary track seemingly forgotten among wild greenery. Beyond the gray strip of the provincial highway - completely devoid of vehicles at this time - large unconnected and slippery steps rise steeply amidst undergrowth towards the center of the little town. The path opens directly into the middle of the animated town square.

Here, the wide lordly facade of the Apostolic Palace, which appears freshly repainted in a yellow-orange tone which accentuates the whiteness of the closed window shutters, dominates the scene like a stage backdrop, framed by a sky that gradually grows more clear and serene.

When we arrive, a good number of persons, mostly young people, have already been gathered there a while under the sun, and others keep arriving in small groups. But there is still enough space to sit on the pavement, at least before the sun becomes too hot or one is forced to get up to make way for other pilgrims who are joining the queue.

I notice a blond Polish girl crouched next to an enormous knapsack - she is seriously engrossed in a sad song she and her companions are singing...A small Papal flag in yellow and white flutters from one corner of the Palace.

Our not-too-long-a-wait on the now sun-drenched square nevertheless still prompts us to find refuge under whatever thin strip of shade there is. [Girls, next time, bring umbrellas - that's why they are also called parasols, 'for the sun' - they are indispensable anywhere in the summertime, take it from one who has spent most of her life under a hot tropical sun!]

Around 11:30, the crowd suddenly starts rushing towards the entrance to the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. The closed quadrilateral courtyard can accommodate no more than 3500 persons. For a moment, we thought we would not be able to make it in, and we managed to leapfrog past those who were in front of us. About as many persons could not get in as there were within.

Under the thin shade cast by the elegant overhead netting, shafts of sunlight projected geometric patterns down below.

Just below the narrow balcony from which hangs the dark red drapery with the papal coat of arms, there are two tall and deep niches within which is an apostle's statue. The third niche, the central one, corresponds to the entrance to the Palace, from whose vault hangs a big wrought-iron chandelier.
A calm and mysterious atmosphere seems to emanate from the interior.

A big round clock in white plaster marks the last half-hour of waiting with its clear Roman numerals...Then the still and dry air seems electrified by a quiet tremor...With the passage of the last few minutes, a chaotic superimposition of festive cries, songs and acclamations becomes even more insistent and agitated.

Some enthusiastic girls are dedicating to the Pope fragments of some pop love songs under the approving glances of their young nun chaperones....

Just before the clock struck noon, for an instant, I thought I would faint. I had just drunk the last drop from my water bottle while with the other hand I was trying to fish out from my purse my small camera and a rosary that I wanted to expose for the blessing. And just then, I thought I saw, through a chink in the shutters, a white figure approaching the large window....

An intense brightness seemed to erupt suddenly on the balcony, greeted by the roar of enthusiastic applause...It is HIM!...At his appearance, Eugenia and I huig each other in a rush of joy...

From where we are, almost in dead center, we are unable to see the figure of the risen Christ on the tapestry behind the Pope, but instead, the intense blue of his eyes was clearly apparent to us!

"Your welcome cannot be more affectionate," he tells the crowd happily, looking amused behind the lenses of his low-perched glasses....

Papino's first Angelus at the summer residence after his mountain vacation is also the very first Angelus of his that I am attending....

After his brief introductory discourse, the crowd chants "PA-CE! PA-CE! PA-CE!" (PEACE! PEACE! PEACE!) [The Pope had referred to the Middle East war in his discourse.]…

"Peace, yes! Peace!" he replied, with heartfelt firmness...

Once his messages were done and he had imparted the apostolic blessing, he looked briefly at the red berets that we were waving on high in greeting...as we each sent him a kiss from our fingertips towards the balcony...

The TV cameras caught us when we were leaving the courtyard...

Outside, after the Angelus, it was a beehive of euphoric pilgrims moving chaotically about in various directions. Everyone seemed to stop at the old fountain the center of the square to refresh themselves, either by taking a drink or bathing their faces.

After a brief prayer at the parish church of St. Thomas, we went to lunch at a rustic trattoria with a fresh and well-cared-for interior, and a large semi-circular window looking out on a peaceful garden.

On the checkered green-and-white tablecoth rested our red berets with the words CITTA DEL VATICANO embroidered next to the papal coat of arms. Meanwhile, we kept getting phone calls on our mobiles from friends in the Forum...

I was still too bemused to concentrate on the menu. While Euge chose to refocus herself with a large steak, I felt thirsty rather than hungry and contented myself with prosciutto paired with the famed melons of the Castelli Romani.

Later, after the inevitable browsing inside souvenir shops, we also visited the few stalls that line the short Corso della Repubblica.

There was an unusual shop that caught our attention right away: a religious haberdashery, where a few gray shirts for 'clergyman' use and some beautiful chasubles fired our imagination...

We took a few photographs with the lake in the background, and headed back for Rome at 5:30.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 31/08/2006 19.01]

And here is A TRANSLATION OF Eugenia's breathless account...

Dearest ones...Finally I have found the right mood to tell you about the Angelus that Gabriella and I experienced together!!!
The night before, I was feeling very sick (stomach upset or colic) and on Sunday morning, I was in an unutterable condition!!!!!!

But as we all know, our love for Ratzi can make us overcome anything - he is better than any tonic... But joking aside (though staying up awake all night was not a joke!), Gabriella and I set out, and thanks to a taxi and traffic-free streets, we arrived with plenty of time to catch the train for CAstel Gandolfo!

A bit ahead of us, some French boys with their priest started to chant Lauds from their breviaries!!!

Then, the train got underway and we pulled out of Stazione Termini towards Ciampino. The day promised to be beautiful and we were very happy...Passing by Ciampino airport, we thought of all the times Papino has been here, leaving or returning from his trips!!!

At Marino, the tracks started to climb the hills and soon we could see the lake looking beautifully green, surrounded by a serene and relaxing panorama.

We got off at the little station and took a shortcut up the hillside which took us straight to the town plaza right in front of the Pope's summer residence!!!

I risked coming to blows with a woman who, at the end of the uphill climb, said to me: "Well, I hope the Pope's blessing will be good today!" I did not have the strength to push her down the steps but I told her curtly, "All blessings from the Pope are good."

We took our place in the queue to gain access to the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, but first, I went to a shop to buy us each a red beret with Papino's coat of arms. And would you believe the lady wanted to sell me those that had JP-II's coat of arms instead? (With all due respect, JP-II, but...)

The shoplady understood I came from Rome and asked me if I were a habitue of the Angelus at Castel Gandolfo. So I said No, this was my first experience in almost 40 years and I was proud to make it.

Well, we waited...And finally, they took away the barriers. Gabriella and I held to each other, and finally, after elbowing our way through and running when we could, we entered the courtyard. We hugged each other because we made it, with hearts beating like mad in anticipation of seeing HIM!!!!!

Finally, at exactly 12 noon, there he was. My first impression of his presence was two eyes of a blue I have never seen before!...The crowd was delirious....And he seemed very happy...It took some effort to establish silence enough to start the Angelus....

Our Benedict was most beautiful, indeed! He seemed to follow every movement in the crowd attentively....And after the prayers came the greetings...And after each greeting, a chorus of acclamation or songs praising him with love and joy...

I was so happy for him because he must have felt and seen how much the people present loved him - despite all the mean things that some quarters continue to dump on him!!!!

At one point, I could see through one of the side windows someone who appeared to glower everytime people shouted greetings or addressed flying kisses to the Pope!...Well, that just made me send countless flying kisses towards the balcony, which must have given the type an attack of bile....

We left the courtyard but our hearts and thoughts remained behind with Papino...

We went to a trattoria to eat, but the vision of our beautiful Joseph occupied us...Imagine if we could have had lunch with him...

After a walk through town and some shopping, we walked slowly down to the train station for the trip back to Rome....

IT WAS ANOTHER UNFORGETTABLE DAY OF JOY WITH THE PERSON WHO IS THE JOY OF OUR LIFE!!!!

Here is a translation of Sybella's account:

Rome and Castel Gandolfo, 20 August 2006

The alarm rang early this Sunday, and beyond the closed shutters, we had no idea what the weather would be. But we did know what we wanted that day and we hurried to make it come to pass.

So by 7 a.m, Eugenia and I were already at Stazione Termini (thanks to the fearless but also prudent lady cab driver who drove us through almost deserted streets on an early summer morning that felt festive). We located Track 18 and had the time to have a cappuccino.

On leaving the station, the train skirted the Roman periphery until it started to climb the Alban hills....From Marino one could already see, between hills and vineyards, glimpses of the lake, dark green and very calm, above which our destination loomed shortly...

Castel Gandolfo's little station is closed, deserted, and looks inhospitable, as is the highway that we must cross...Then we walk up the side of the hill, through woods and beautiful villas from whose gates some dog would bark occasionally...And at the end, a beautiful panorama - on our right, the old houses of this small town, and on the left, Lake Alban in all its calm majesty.

To our immediate right, the ample expanse of the piazza...We passed the small elegant Bernini-designed Church of St. Thomas, with the Papal coat of arms on its facade, and the souvenir shops which were still closed, towards the elegant Apostolic Palace which closes off this end of the street...

And we find that only a few young Sardinians have preceded us...They have not even put up the white police barriers yet...And we know we will be among the very first to gain entrance into the courtyard!

The sky still looks uncertain, occasional clouds go by, but soon the sun has the upper hand, perhaps called forth by the happy songs of youth groups in full cry a la WYD.

By 11 o'clock, the square is unbelievably crowded, and they open up the barriers. After the usual false starts, the fear of being separated in the crowd, of losing sight of each other even, we run a bit discomposed into the courtyard (excuse us, dear Papino!) to choose the best spot...and then the wait.

I have attended quite a few Angelus at St. Peter's, I have seen the square crowded with 80,000 pilgrims under a beautiful October sun, I have seen it under leaden skies in November...but Papino was always just a little point in the distance, two hands extended in a remote embrace and a white head of hair way up there...But here, no! I know that now I will see him as I have always dreamed, as he is, and from fairly close...

But there is time to appreciate this elegant courtyard, the sun-screen stretched overhead, to wonder how many rooms there might be behind those closed shutters, to see the papal coat of arms on the red tapestry draped beneath his balcony, to experience the joy of anticipating a beautiful moment lived in the company of a friend....And then it is 12 noon...

There is an instant hush and then the courtyard explodes in acclamation...A lightning flash of blue is looking down at us, with the sweetest and most disarming smile, two hands that speak eloquently even before the voice reaches us....

It is a most beautiful Angelus message, a masterful evocation of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux who admonished a Pope, "all Popes, all of us"....An affirmation that is perhaps a contradiction in our day, but very right: about the danger of 'these cursed concerns" that often take away precious time that we should use to enrich our personal and spiritual life....

Then the prayers in which, as always, Benedict is very focused...I always melt at the tender way he says "Requiescant in pace" - how he makes the words sound like a promise...

And then, amid the sea of hands raised towards him, I raise mine to blow him a kiss...For a moment, those blue eyes seem to be looking down on me, from above his lenses, with his eyebrows raised as if to ask, "For whom? For me?!?!" (Eugenia tells me later she had the same tender sensation...)

Now he delivers his greetings in various languages...I adore it when he speaks French, so musically; I am touched by the way he speaks English; I love his elegant German, as well as his Spanish and Portuguese, and his patient obstinacy in speaking Polish...Then he greets the Italians, and the courtyard explodes once again in a roar of applause that breaks up into thousands of enthusiastic cries...

When all is done and Papino turns away, I do not realize right away that we are free to go...If it were up to me, I would stay to imprint this place and this atmosphere into my being....

Leaving through a side gate, we see the magnificent gardens on our right with its hedges and cypresses...I am happy they are there, it makes me think that at least Papino does not feel himself quite a 'prisoner'...

The piazza is filled with people who waited under the sun (which by now is quite hot) for the Pope's greeting from another balcony (he gives them a cheerful "Buon giorno!") and who are now slowly vacating the place....

We head towards the pleasant little restaurant which Eugenia and Gabriella had already tried...After a round of telephone calls to reassure friends that we had survived, it was time to choose a meal. I was not really hungry, but nevertheless I did honor to a dish of grilled mushrooms, and of course, to a mug of beer.

The afternoon would not be complete without a prayer at the Church where five days earlier, Benedict had celebrated a beautiful Mass of the Assumption; buying some souvenirs, Papal and otherwise; another pause at the piazza for a refreshing ice; and a last stroll through this sleepy little town which finds itself in the eyes of the world for two months during the year....

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 31/08/2006 23.29]

In the main forum, Gabriella quotes for Paparatzifan a fragment from one of the pop 'love songs' sung to the Pope at the audience she and Eugenia attended on 7/20/06:

..."se sapessi le parole...Ti scriverei una canzone d'amore, per farti addormentare...Che possa dirti il calore che io non so spiegare........Solo per te, solo per te!!!!"

"If I only knew the words...I would write you a song of love to lull you to sleep...That could tell you the warmth (I feel) that I cannot explain...Onyl for you, only for you!"

...per la tua meravigliosa traduzione!!!!!

Davvero grazie infinite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






P.S. Gabriella....Perdonami, ho dovuto togliere un po' delle esclamazioni in tipo grande perche hanno fatto le righe
con le parole scritte in tutti gli altri articoli troppo lunghe per poter leggere comodamente...Ed e sempre un gran
piacere per me di tradurre tutte queste esperienze bellissime, grazie a voi tutte per condividerci.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 31/08/2006 22.15]