Rome Pilgrimage Day 8: Final Day

Our final day in Rome began with an early trip to the Vatican for the Papal Audience.  Though it was scheduled to start at 10:00, we got there before 8:00 for seats.  Thankfully, since this is still winter, it took place inside a large auditorium with seats rather than outside in St. Peter’s Square.  I’m not one for waiting in large crowds.  Also thankfully Pope Francis actually made his entrance before 10:00.  The way it works is that the Gospel for Sunday is read in various languages (Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Arabic), then the Pope gives his reflection for the week (a catechesis on the Mass, in particular the Gloria), and that is then translated into those languages with greetings to the pope and from the pope.  In all it was about 45 minutes.  We booked it out of there as the pope was greeting the bishops in attendance to beat the crowd.

Let's be honest, the hall is ugly

A friend and I then walked over to the Castel Sant’Angelo, the last place I really wanted to visit on this trip.  It’s named after the large Saint Michael statue on top.  This castle is very close to St. Peter’s and has been built up over the centuries.  It began as a fortress by Emperor Hadrian (he of the wall in England and many other construction projects) and eventually became a hideout for popes when Rome was under attack.  In fact, there was a skywalk of sorts built connecting the papal apartments with the castle.  It was a very cool tour, starting on the ramparts and then working through the layers of the inner castle.  In the 1920s it was turned into a military museum, so they still have some artifacts in there.  It was well worth it, and especially interesting given our church history classes.

After that we were pretty much pooped and wanted some rest before travel day tomorrow.  We walked back to the hotel, grabbed lunch (with the rector, who happened to walk in soon after us), and I had about an hour of rest.

Don't think I've ever seen a catapult like this in person

Standing guard

Guard room

St. Michael

Pretty great view of the Vatican

Just a taste of the armaments

Two Michaels

Pope's apartment

Then, it was time to head to Chiesa Nouva for Mass.  This beautiful church is notable for being founded by St. Philip Neri.  We were able to have Mass in the chapel that holds his body.  Due to his devotion to Mary, the church is filled with beautiful paintings dedicated to Our Mother.  It even includes a Caravaggio and works by Rubens.

The Caravaggio (obviously it was dark in there)

Tonight we had our formal going-away dinner.  It’s always that kind of bittersweet time of a trip.  I’m happy to be going home, but I’ll miss Italy.  I hope to be back sooner than the 7 years since my last time here.