My church choir is planning a concert tour in Rome in March 2008 (after Easter). It's organized by a company that specializes in such tours. The itinerary includes singing during the Papal audience. I'm curious - have any of you ever seen/heard a choir sing during that time? What was it like?

I have - you get a brief period, maybe a minute or so, to sing, and then it's on to the next group. People from all over the world sing in their native languages.

Yes, I've been to several audiences and they are all handled the same way. A priest that speaks your language, in this case English, gets up and introduces all the groups from countries speaking that language. As the group's name is announced, they applaud, cheer, wave signs, or in the case of choirs, stand up and sing for a minute. Many groups are in native dress which is very interesting to see.

A minute is already long. Plan a maximum of 30 seconds.

Don't let the short time of recognition put you off, it is QUALITY TIME, especially to the participants and GREAT just to be there. Yesterday there was a note about IF one could attend part of the papal audience and then LEAVE. I cannot imagine wanting to leave, regardless of your faith. Have a good one. Halfpint

Halfpint: I am so glad you said that...a group I guided to a Papal audience sang and the participants still talk about it: we were encouraged to plan for under a minute's worth of our best and that worked out well.