vatican, seeing the Pope
 

hello, this is my first time to Italy and my 15 yr old daughter and i have the dream of seeing the Pope.
does anyone know how to go about getting tickets for his wednesday public audience,apparently he goes out to the plaza on wednesdays.
we would like to see him(i am aware that we will be there with a million other people)
and then we need to get our luggage from our hotel and get on a train to florence..(so probably in the afternoon, early evening)
i am not sure if we need to purchase tickets ahead of time for the train, or just show up and try to buy them?
thanks
tmc1289

You can arrange tickets through www.santasusanna.org for Wednesday Mass or you can just go on Sunday for the Sunday Blessing in the Piazza (no ticket needed). You didn't say when you would be in Rome, but if it's summer, the Pope is often at his summer residence Castle Gandolfo. You would have to train there from Rome.
www.vatican.va

Or, you can do like we did, and just show up on Wednesday morning. He is driven around in an open car--we got a good view of him and several snap shots.

Although you need a ticket for Papal Audience, there is no charge for tickets. You may want to make arrangements before you get to Italy if you'd like Papal Audience tickets. You can contact the cardinal in your local archdiocese office, and you don't need to be a Catholic. Just phone; they will ask you to fax them with information on the date, the # of people in your party, etc. A day or two later they will fax back a letter for you to take to the Prefect of the Vatican either the morning of or the day before the Papal Audience, and you will "redeem" the letter for tickets. Contacting the North American College in Rome on via Umilita is another way to go. Monsignor Roesch there should be able to help you. Although Audience doesn't start until 10 am, I would highly recommend arriving no later than 8 am.

BC

We were in Rome on a Wednesday, planning to visit St. Peters and the Vatican Museum since we were told that Pope John Paul was out of the city. This was the year before he passed away. Imagine our surprise when we reached St. Peters Square and had to go through security because the Pope was there holding his Wednesday audience. We weren't able to get close, but I did get a great close up picture of him from the jumbotron. No tickets were necessary.

Audience with the Pope - big deal. We had dinner with the Pope. He is such a nice man, so kind, so sweet, so gentle.........But his wife!!

So if you have a ticket, does that mean you just get in a closer, gated-off section? I'd like to go, but I'm not sure if I can pick up my tickets by 6:30 the night before since we'll just be arriving in Rome Tuesday late afternoon.

This may be a silly question, but can I just show up and watch from the back of the crowd?

I'm pretty sure the ticket gets you into the gated section.

And yes, you can just show up and enjoy it. We happened past there on a Wednesday, but missed the actual audience due to our scheduled tour of the Museum. We wandered by again on Sunday, and stayed to see the entire thing from the back of the crowd.

It was very cool to see. You should definitely try it.

wow, this is a great venue, thank you for your help bookchick, i contacted North American College in Rome, Monsignor Roesch and i already have a confirmation for the public audience on wednesday in june.. THANK YOU.
I have learned so much from you all, thanks for your help.
happy travels to you all.
tmc1289

tmc1289, I am so happy this worked out for you! Monsignor Roesch is, IMO, a top-notch gentleman. Last time I attended Papal Audience in June of 2005, he offered to show me the chapel in the North American College, and gave me a brief tour and history of it, as well as some of the hallways in the North American College. Very genial fellow, and originally a fellow midwesterner. (I'm from Michigan, he's from Milwaukee.)

BC

Just arrive at the Vatican on a Wednesday morning around 9-9:30am... The Pope arrives at approximately 10:30am..you only need a ticket to get within a gated area which also gives you a seat...however you will be able to get some good views of the Pope without a ticket,,just walk in and find a decent spot that gives you a view of the middle of the plaza...there are also huge TV screens that display the Pope during the proceedings...we were there in May...it was truly inspiring.
Mikek

Do like kybourbon suggested and go to www.santasusanna.org. Click on pope and vatican and then tickets. You pick up the tickets the evening before at the church. It is a good experience to go to the Wednesday mass. We really enjoyed it.