Viva la Papa (Revisited)

Republished with photos... Bella and Elmo communed with the Pope on Wednesday, June 21, 2006.

(submission by Bella)

i saw the pope this morning!! elmo and i went over to the basilica around 8:15 for the papal audience that starts at 10am. we saw people walking with red tickets in hand towards the seats up front and thought - if we just follow them maybe no one will stop us. so we kept walking through the gate and towards the seats. no one stopped us! i turned to elmo and asked "is this a sin?" needless to say, he didn't think so!

so we sat in the hot sun for 1 hour and 30 minutes. just in the hour or so that we sat there ... i think the temperature went up about 15-20 degrees. i think i started to roast! then we saw the pope being driven around in the pope mobile! we couldn't believe how close we were! it was kind of weird to be near the pope.

there were readings in about 5 different languages and then he spoke in italian -- we had no idea what he was saying! then he gave a blessing in english....he blesssed us and said that the blessing extended to our friends and family at home ... so consider yourself blessed by the POPE!

what an interesting start to my day in roma!

ciao!
"bella"