To visit the Pope, or not while in Rome?
 

Who's gone to the Wed. audience w/ the Pope? Would you recommend it? More trouble than it's worth? Only for the fiercely faithful? While I was raised in the Catholic Church, I am not über religious although the history is very interesting. Also, we'll be there the first week in April during Lent... does this change the Pope or Vatican schedule at all? Will the audience be at Aula Paolo VI or on the balcony April 5? Grazie!

I'm not Catholic, but I wanted to see the pope for historical and cultural reasons, and those seemed very important to me. Perhaps more for John Paul II (as I did) than Benedict, however. You can probably find info about his schedule at http://www.vatican.ca .

Seeing the multicultural, very happy, buzzing with enthusiasm audience was also very interesting from a cultural point of view.

I'm not Catholic either, but one of the most memorable events of my life was an audience with Pope Pius XII back in 1950 when I was a young teenager. It was a semi-private audience (only about 25 people) and he spoke with each of us personally. I was quite thrilled and honored at the time, and still am.
1950 was a Holy Year, so it was a very special time to be in Rome.

I've been to the big outdoor Wednesday audience with JP II. It was a quite an event; just as WillTravel said:

"Seeing the multicultural, very happy, buzzing with enthusiasm audience was also very interesting from a cultural point of view."

It was a very energetic time, and the whole thing was, IMO, well worth doing. I am not a faithful Catholic, but the Pope moved me.

I was at a wednesday audience last year
& really enjoyed the experience.I am a catholic & my kids were thrilled to see the pope ( which surprised me, teens & pre-teens )It was outside, very informal, people coming and going all the time. The atmosphere was fantastic. As it was mostly in Italian which we don't speak, we decided to leave after about 40 minutes. We didn't want to wait until the kids got bored and as we had deliberately stayed at the back, we didn't disturb anyone by leaving. As we left, some people were only arriving.
If you have tickets, it is worth going. It will be very crowded and we found the metro so busy that we got off & took the bus from termini ( no 64, I think ).

I attended one of these in Sept 2004 (John Paul II).

It was almost a rock-concert atmosphere, and an event that I would recommend to anyone of interest. It wasn't religious as much as a spiritual celebration.

I've been to a number of the Wednesday audiences and I would recommend it for all. You can get tickets from the Swiss Guards at the Bronze Doors a few days before. The Papal schedule has just been released and it shows nothing special for April 5th. That time of year the audience is usually, weather permitting, in the Square (not actually on the balcony).
Enjoy
Alan Howard
stpetersbasilica.org

I have heard that because of his exhaustive schedule, Benny is too pooped to pope.

Balenciaga, quit your *itching!

You're just jealous because Benedict XVI gets to wear red velvet shoes made by Prada and you don't!

Only if you think that you could persuade him to change his outdated doctrine and allow women to become priests.