wrenwood

Apparently on Wednesday mornings there is a Papal "Audience" at the Vatican. Has anyone gone? What is it like? How long is it and what happens?

We're not Catholic, but my brother and his family are, and would like to go. We thought we might go with them as we also admire Pope Francis.

nytraveler

This is a large public event. The people gather in St Peter's Square and the pope appears briefly on a balcony and blesses the crowd. There will be mobs (thousands of people) gathered for this arriving hours in advance to get a good place to stand where they can see the pope.

You mention your brother's family - if this includes small kids I would not do this - since they will see nothing from the crowd and it will be extremely tedious for them. If teens - then possible but perhaps not what they would want.

Tickets are required - but they are free and you can find info online.

Also note that the audiences are usually suspended in July and August since the pope is typically not in the Vatican then - but in his home in the hills to avoid the worst of the Roman heat.

Alec

You are confusing the Sunday midday Angelus with General Audience. GA takes place either outdoors in St Peter's Square or indoors at the Audience Hall. Tickets are required for the seated area, but you can just turn up and watch it on giant screens. Under the present pope it has become very popular and people queue up before dawn to get the best seats and a real scramble ensues. As it doesn't start till 10 am, you may wait 4 hours. The pope sits on the dais before the basilica and gives a catechesis (teaching homily) and greet different language groups, ending with the recitation of Our Father in Latin and apostolic blessing. Takes about 20 min. The pope is driven on popemobile to greet the crowds, kiss babies etc before the audience in open air.

Sunday midday Angelus requires no ticket but a large crowd gathers in the square. You can watch on giant screens as the balcony is high up. Takes about 10 min.

bvlenci

NYTraveler is confusing the Wednesday papal audience with the Sunday recital of the Angelus prayer. The Pope is present at the audience, not on a balcony over the square. If the audience is held outside, he rides around the square in his Popemobile.

Also, Pope Francis doesn't retire to the hills in the summer as his predecessors did. The audience is suspended in July, though, maybe because of the heat, or maybe because the crowds would be even more unmanageable than they usually are.

In August, the Pope sometimes holds the audience at Castel Gandolfo, where the papal summer palace is located, maybe because the good people of that town feel deprived by his not taking up summer residence there. The schedule isn't posted yet, but if there will be a Wednesday audience in August at the Vatican, tickets aren't required.

The papal audience is in St. Peter's Square when weather permits. You need tickets (in theory) to get a seat, although I've heard that sometimes no one checks them. (You can't count on this!) You can get the tickets in various ways. The easiest ways are:

1. Go to St. Peter's Square on Tuesday afternoon, after 3 PM. You'll have to go through the security line, which is sometimes long. Just after security, you tell the Swiss Guard at the bronze door that you want tickets to the papal audience.

2. Email the Church of Santa Susanna. They'll get tickets for you, and you can pick them up at the church parish office on Tuesday between 4:30 PM and 6:15 PM. The church is at Via XX Settembre, 15, which isn't far from Termini station. Since this is in central Rome, and since there's no security queue, this may be the easiest way of all.

http://www.santasusanna.org/popeVatican/tickets.html

3. (For Americans) Email the Pontifical North American College. Again, you have to pick the tickets up the day before, at their visitor center near Trevi Fountain.

http://www.pnac.org/visitorsoffice/audiences/

If you're a group of 10 or more people, you have to get the tickets from the Prefecture of the Papal Household, by faxing them your request:

http://www.vatican.va/various/prefet...lietti_en.html

You have to get to the Square very early if you want to get a seat. The audience starts at 10, and the security opens at around 8. However, by 8 there will already be a big crowd waiting to get in. It's best to be there by 7 AM. Bring sunscreen, water, and wear a sunhat. You have to be dressed in a manner considered appropriate: shoulders and knees covered.

bvlenci

Alec and I were writing at the same time.

I've never gone to the Wednesday audience, but I've read that it lasts over an hour. One of the unofficial sites (www.papalaudience.org) says that it lasts 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

The Sunday Angelus is just about 20 minutes.

Alec

The actual audience, which starts at 10 am, from the opening greeting to the apostolic blessing is about 20 min (I watch it every week online on Vatican Radio site at http://www.radiovaticana.va/player/). But Pope Francis appears on Popemobile about 9:45 and is driven slowly using every gangway available to greet the crowd, kiss babies, bless the sick and disabled and collect souvenirs thrown at him etc. After the audience, he stays on the dais to greet VIPs - mainly bishops visiting Rome. Choirs and groups of musicians perform while all this is taking place, and people gradually disperse, and the square is more or less back to normal by 11.
At the Sunday Angelus (or Regina Coeli during Eastertide), after opening greeting (hearty buon girno!), he gives a short homily, usually based on that Sunday's Mass readings, concluding with the recitation of Angelus. Then he addresses the crowd and greets various groups represented, concluding with buon pranzo - have a nice lunch! - reflecting Pope Francis's informal style. The whole event takes about 10 min.