The General Audience on Wednesday in St Peter's Square always has a carnival atmosphere. Every week, tens of thousands of people from all over the world wait in sunshine or rain to see the Holy Father, hear his address and receive his blessing. If you can't go for the whole thing, you can see and hear it from outside the railings on the edge of the Piazza, or go through security beyond the colonnade and watch. You may well be allowed to go into any empty section. When I am in Rome, I never miss it.
Apart from the day when I said Mass for Fr Boyle's group of altar servers, I went early into St Peter's to say Mass. Sir Dan of the Nesbitry was there each morning to serve my Mass - he remembered pretty well everything from his boyhood days and was happy with the gravitas. Here he is in the Sacristy of St Peter's:
At the tomb of St Peter, we knelt down to say the prayers to gain the pilgrimage indulgence and then recited the school hymn to St John Fisher.
2 comments:
The Wednesday weekly General audience can be seen live,on TV2000 and Telepace via the Hotbird satellite. EWTN also show it later on as a recording.( Father, do you have any contact in Vatican TV,CTV, whom you could ask to stop voicing over the Pope's English resume in Italian?)Pope Benedict's talk can be got soon after in English on Zenit.org website. The Holy See website also eventually gets round to posting his talk, but in Italian. The weekly talk is an important way to be in contact with the Pope's thinking. He has taken us on a long journey from the Apostles, through the Fathers, East and West and the major Middle Ages figures, eg St Bernard, St Francis etc. At present he is highlighting the major role of women saints, St Clare, St Gertrude, St Mechtilde, St Brigitte, etc. There is always an emphasis on their mystical experiences and writings.
I'm afraid I have no contacts at CTV but if bloggers start complaining then they might take some notice.
I agree with you about the importance of the General Audience talks. Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II have developed this opportunity for preaching very effectively.
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