Oh My God! It's the Pope!

We didn't have classes yesterday (wednesday) so we were all able to go see the Papal Audience at the Vatican. We had to leave before 7:30am to get to the Vatican by 8 or so. The Papal Audience does not start until 11:30. But that didn't stop the crowds from being huge when we got there. This is a big deal for people. It's a pilgrimage- people travel from all over the world to see him and have the Pope bless themselves, their families, and their religious artifacts they brought along. 

We had tickets that gave us seats, and we ended up about 10 rows away from the stairs up to St. Peter's. There were so many people around us and standing in the Piazza. Certain groups started singing, and had flags to wave when the Pope recognizes their group. 

By the time 11:30 hit, we were ready to get the show on the road. He came out on his pope-mobile surrounded by his bodyguards and drove around the crowds. Everyone was cheering and standing on their chairs to get photos and a better glimpse of the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

I couldn't get over this idea that I was at a concert, these men and women cheering,waving, taking photos of this man. They were pushing on each other trying to get a better look. I guess he is a celebrity.

Pope Benedict, "THANK YOU VATICAN CITY!"

Once he finally got on the stage and seated, the Audience began. He did a blessing and spoke in Italian. Then one by one, cardinals speaking different languages came up to the microphone and introduced the groups who spoke that specific language to the pope. Then the Pope spoke in that  language giving a blessing and other things pertaining to the groups. He spoke in Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and I believe Ukrainian.. something like that. He also did the Our Father in Latin. That was one of the coolest things about the whole thing. The Cardinal spoke in a language, then Pope Benedict was given a sheet of paper with his speech in that language and just read it. He didn't seem to get confused or mispronounce words, although in English you could hear the German accent. I could pick out sentences and phrases in Italian and even more in French.

During the English one, the Cardinal called out the John Felice Rome Center and we all cheered. But they had groups that had planned out cheers and songs. You could see the Pope smiling on the big screens they had set up. And he almost stole my heart when he said, "Muchas Gracias" in Spanish. He had a cute smile :) But no, I did not have a huge change of heart when it comes to my religion. I thought if I would even go back to being a devout Catholic it would happen in the presence of the Pope. But I still have my doubts, and I still don't agree with all the power the Vatican has- but you have to acknowledge the history of the religion. It went from a young man in Jerusalem preaching that people should be kind to everyone, a lesson of love and charity, to the official religion of the Roman Empire, to one of the largest and most important religions in the modern world. 

But who knows what is going to happen in the future. I'm not saying that I don't agree with what Jesus Christ was trying to say, but I have a hard time agreeing with what so much of the modern Catholic church stands for. I feel like a hypocrite when I go to church- I go through the motions without feeling anything. I know the form of the mass by heart and it doesn't bring me closer to God but further away. I wish I had the faith that I could accept the dogma and the Church, but I can't right now. So call me a bad Catholic if you want, but I think I put more thought into religion than most Catholics that go to church everyday. So which one is right? The person who blindly accepts anything the church says as fact, never looking for a deeper or personal meaning or the person who struggles with what she believes, understands the gospels and the history of the church but still disagrees with all her heart with parts of the church, but agrees with just as much? 

So who knows what is going to happen in 5 or 10 years for me. Maybe when I'm married or have children things will change. But for now, I feel like I deserve to explore my faith, whether it will be Catholic, Buddhist, a sect of Christianity or just spiritual. As my dad always says, "You just need to believe in something. You need to teach your children something. " Well I don't know what that something will be. But I will figure it out sooner or later.

On another note, I'm going to Florence this weekend! Keep an eye out for a post this next week!

Oh and a Congratulations to my best friend Krista on making it safely to Paris! You are going to have an amazing time traveling and exploring France! LOVE YOU!

Ciao Bella