We will be in Rome Tuesday thru Friday in late September. How can we see and get an blessing from the Pope? Is there any possibility other than to be in St Peter's Square on Wednesday? What time should one arrive in the Square?

We've just arrived back from Rome and the Pope is usually in Castelgandolfo in the summer. However, a week last Wednesday he changed his plans and came back to the Vatican for his weekly audience.
We were informed by a nun that he was there and just walked into the audience room (along with about 5000 others!). There was no need of any tickets. He spoke in several languages and then blessed us at the end. People were invited to take personal items such as rosaries to him to be blessed.
I believe that there is a way of a personal audience as long as you fax your details (and address whilst in Rome) to the Vatican no more than 2 months in advance and no less than 2 weeks before. Perhaps someone with more knowledge can help on that score.

I contacted my local Archdiocese in Detroit. The Cardinal's secretary was very helpful, and asked me to fax her with my name, date of audience I wished to attend (they're on Wednesday mornings), and the name, address and telephone number of the hotel where I'd be staying. I did this, and I day later I received a fax from the Cardinal's office; it was a letter from the Prefect of the Vatican, stating I should bring the fax to the Vatican the day before or the morning of the Papal Audience, and the Prefect's Office would take the fax from me and give me my ticket. This was in winter, when the audience was held indoors, but I think the size of the audience will somehow be restricted in the better weather months when it's held outdoors.

Buon Viaggio,
BC

Have a look at the information on the Web site of the Church of Santa Susanna, the American church in Rome:

http://www.santasusanna.org/popeVati...peVatican.html

Call Sen Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
M

I think Ted's too busy singing with the mariache band to bother with a request such as this.

Betsy,
Touche, lol!
M

Did we just hit lucky to be able to wander into the audience hall with no pre-arranged tickets?
As I said, the nun told us that there had been a change of plans and the Pope was back in the Vatican unexpectedly. Even so, the hall was 95% full (we reckoned anout 5000 people). I know for a fact that they didn't all just wander in because most were in groups and their presence was anounced individually (with much singing and oompah brass band playing!). I wonder if he changed his Castelgandolfo plans because of the numbers expected - there were many, many people from Poland as well as Mexico?

ok to get the audience you fax/mail in a request with the dates youàll be there...i donàt have my italy book now but iàm sure itàs somewhere online..

we are in rome now and faxed our request in late april this year, got a response a week later!

it seems like heàs back at his summer home b-c today we checked with several guards and his swiss guards who told us that we need to go to castel gandolfo for the audience tomorrow...

ps please excuses the à they are meant to be' but itàs in a different place on italy's keyboard!

Castel gondolfo ýs an easy 45 mýnute traýn rýde from roma týrmýný. from there you walk to pope,s castell and then there ýs no need for týckets you get ýn..

here,s a cut an paste from my emaýl to frýends and famýly for our experýence

So today was our audience with the pope!!! I have to admit it was really fun and exciting, seeing how happy
and excited the others were was an experience in
itself.

We took a train to castelgondolfo where the pope has his summer home, it is about 20 km outside of Rome and a 45 minute train ride. We arrived at 8 am since we head it gets packed and though we had tickets, when the pope is at his summer place, no ticket is required.

We didn't know where to go from the train station but
there were dozens of other tourist and pilgrims on the train as well as priests and nuns, so we followed the two older priest who looked like they knew what they were doing, we followed them one way, they found the road closed, we turned around only to discover that the original way was correct, we only had to go around
a corner. it was hilarious seeing a line of perhaps 100 people flowing one way then the next! We climbed a
zigzag staircase that opened into what i think was the
town square, as well as the square in front of the
Pope's palace. As we went up we began to hear the
sounds of people singing. IN the square, there was
already a line of people as well as group of young
singers, playing guitars and singing folksy type
hymns. It was VERY cool!

We waited an hour before they let us into the palace
courtyard, we had though there would be chairs, no
dice here. The wait here was for another 45 minutes,
another singing troupe, sang various hymns with
guitars and tambourines, it was very fun and easy to
get into the mood as they sang Ava maria and
hallelujah....the other people in the audience began
to sing along too...later on the original group sang
another song and it went back and forth in the crowd.
There were many people in the crowd who brought bread
for blessing, along with what looked like gifts for
the pope, pictures, or they brought photos of loved
ones there too. There were really jolly people in the
crowd holding up the signs, other priest like guys
holding bushels of wheat (I'm not sure what the
meaning of that is) and of course MANY many cameras
and video cameras! people also sang out chants and
cheers such as pope john Paul, we love you. The only
frustrating part was that as all crowds are there was
alot of pushing and people trying to sneak in front of
others or push around people..which is sad.

The funniest/neatest part was the brides, i saw at
least 10 or 12 bride and grooms all dressed up with
gowns, veils and tuxes! They were led in through
another route and once we were in the palace courtyard
we could see the brides up on the second floor of the
palace looking into the courtyard. I asked 2 of the
brides at the end if they were just blessed by the
pope or were actually married, the first one said yes
they were married by the pope, the second said no we
were blessed by him and we could kiss his ring, I'm
not sure what was reality.

and at 10 am a cardinal came out to give the
itinerary...When the pope came out the people went
really crazy. one lady kept screaming out popa i love
you as she blew kisses. The crowd was about 1000 or
2000 or even 3000, I'm not sure really. We were about
8 to 10 people deep right in front and of course
Mohamed was able to see clearly when they wheeled him
in...i could see him on tip toes...they had a bigTVv
screen up to show him for others in the crowd.

The pope did look tired and he would rest his head on
his hand between speeches but his assistants were
amazing! The pope did severalspeechess,Italiann,
polish, french,Englishh andGermann and polish
versions.Eachh speech greeted and welcomed both
visitors AND pilgrims. I forgot to mention that before
thePopee cameseverall cardinals came out and gave
special welcomes and explanations of what the Pope's
speech would be about.Eachhspeeche was done in all the
languages too... and at the end they extended out
special welcome tot specific groups that came such as a
church from japan or aSiciliann group, etc. When he
read out the name, that group would cheer as if they
were at a concert, the two song groups broke out into
a verse of song too!

Lucky for us we were close as well as tall enough to
see the pope. However we felt bad from some of the
elderly ladies who could not see him, even on their
tippy toes....my husband was asked to take pictures for
people and i think he took about 8 photos in a row and
also filmed the polish speech for a polish family next
to us. He also gave one little old lady a lift so she
could see the pope and take a picture and she was so
excited and so incredibly happy, it was really cute to
see.
My husband and I had been excited to see the pope for the
experience of it...being Muslims it didn't hold the
same meaning it did for others. However, being there,
feeling the excitement of the crowd, hearing the
chants and hymn was really moving and sweet. If you get a chance to do ýt..ýs say go for ýt!