(You won’t believe this, but I still feel as if I’m just getting started on this reporting…)

Week ago today, we attended the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square.  We had our tickets, retrieved Tuesday evening – an acquaintance arranged ours, but do know these are not hard to get. Santa Susanna, the Paulist-run American parish in Rome, is a popular place to get them, but as I was going to get mine at the famed Bronze Doors at St. Peter’s, I saw that the Swiss Guard had a handful and was handing them out – now, he was handing them to a nun, so I don’t know if that’s a special privilege for religious or not, but I doubt it.

No, the issue with the GA is not the tickets, but getting a good seat. And at a GA, if you’re not one of the privileged dignitaries like these guys (and this photo is from the day we were there. No, I didn’t take it. Click for credits) –

– sitting up on the level where the Pope sits, "good seat" means on the aisle. Which means…you gotta be there when they open the place.

Which we were. 8 AM. For an audience that starts at 10:30.

Basically, you have to run. The crowd gathers at the two points of entry, and then the police open up…and the race begins. Within 30 seconds, you’ve got your seat – a good one, we hope – and all you have to do now is wait. And wait. And wait.

For those of you doubting I was actually there.

It wasn’t too bad. Joseph was rather amazingly good. Once again that, "Start a conversation with me at your own risk" t-shirt I keep contemplating would have come in handy as he latched on to an Irish couple behind us and just would not stop talking to the poor people. They were patient though, and endured until we, once again, had to physically move him in order to get him to stop.

(The woman called the baby a "wee pet" which was so endearing! Oh, and she called Joseph a "wee scamp." Got that right!)

The time passed, frigidly. The day had started off sunny, and almost kind of warm, but then clouds gathered, and I swear the temperature dropped 15 degrees. This was typical of the whole time. The weather was far better than it is here, but it was unpredictable. Katie read Jane Eyre. Joseph entertained the Irish. The baby slept for a while.

Someone had told us that this pope comes out at 10 am, not 10:30, so we had high hopes…but no. No early bird today. He comes out in the Papal Hot Wheels from the left side (when you’re facing it) of St. Peter’s, swings around and up and back, and then up the center aisle, where we got a really nice view of him (hey! We were on the aisle!) "Benedetto" was a frequent shout, but "Papa!" even more so, I think.

It’s too bad that the pope’s entry is accompanied by tinny piped-in organ music, though. You’d think there could be a papal band or something – I mean, it is only once a week!

So, the audience commences – you probably know the drill. He speaks in Italian, and then bishops from the major language groups get up and announce a special welcome to various groups. French, German, Polish, Spanish and English, I think. The groups cheer wildly when they’re identified and choral groups pop up and sing 30 seconds of a hymn – that’s the nicest part. The St. Thomas kids were there as well as a big contingent from Steubenville’s European study program. The Pope then addresses each group for a minute or so in its own language – I just love hearing the Pope speak English. It’s so…German. 

He then walks over and greets the first row in that top section at length, after greeting the bishops present ("Why waste time with those guys.." someone grumbled…"He can see them any time.") , and then gets in the Papal Hot Wheels and comes back down – not the middle, much to my chagrin, but just along the front row, where Michael got a great photo of him.

So. There. That’s done. If I spent more time in Rome, I’d probably go to the Angelus often, if not regularly. It’s more relaxed, it’s shorter, and it’s prayer. I’m glad I went to the General Audience, but…that’s it for me, I’d say!