Happy 80th Birthday
God Bless
April 15, 1927
(Hmmm......this balcony looks familiar) In the summer of 1967, Canada’s Centennial Year, my family traveled to Italy to visit my grandparents. We flew with BOAC and the airplane made a pit stop in London, England, where we waited several hours for a connecting flight to Rome. While we waited to board the next plane we met a lovely woman who introduced herself as Elizabeth and who liked me so much she wanted to take me home with her. Enough said, of course, my parents wouldn’t let Elizabeth take me home with her and off we flew to Rome, Italy, to meet my grandparents and do a little sight seeing.
My parents had no sightseeing agenda, since they didn’t know if they would be able to find anyone to provide transportation for sightseeing, but during our stop in Rome we were able to visit the Vatican. Who would fly all that way in 1967 without visiting the Vatican? Actually, if you remember the 1960’s, who travelled across the ocean on an airplane at all? We did.
We had never seen pictures of the Vatican’s interior and we were in awe of all the beauty surrounding us. Who knew that the burial plots of our past Popes were inside, right under our feet! We were surrounded by gold accessories, Michael Angelo originals and a Michael Angelo original on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel that truly gave me a feeling of the “Wrath of God”. It was breathtaking.
Then along came a Vatican Guard who invited our family on a tour of the Papal Office. Do you believe that such a thing would happen? It did. There was about a dozen in the group and the Guard guided us to the outside of the Papal Office, at the door, where we were allowed to briefly look inside, but the Pope was not sitting behind that big desk. The Guard then guided us to a very narrow flight of concrete stairs with concrete walls on both sides. I remember the steps being so high that I really had to stretch my legs to reach the next step and we walked up in a single file because it was so narrow that only one at a time could fit. It was dark in the stairwell because there were so many people ahead of us and I cried because it was so scary. When we finally got to the top of the stairs we were right there … at that balcony, above, where the Pope stands to address the crowds.
Then along came a Vatican Guard who invited our family on a tour of the Papal Office. Do you believe that such a thing would happen? It did. There was about a dozen in the group and the Guard guided us to the outside of the Papal Office, at the door, where we were allowed to briefly look inside, but the Pope was not sitting behind that big desk. The Guard then guided us to a very narrow flight of concrete stairs with concrete walls on both sides. I remember the steps being so high that I really had to stretch my legs to reach the next step and we walked up in a single file because it was so narrow that only one at a time could fit. It was dark in the stairwell because there were so many people ahead of us and I cried because it was so scary. When we finally got to the top of the stairs we were right there … at that balcony, above, where the Pope stands to address the crowds.
We were greeted by Clergy, Bishops and Cardinals who blessed us, and blessed us, and blessed us and then left us to enjoy the view but later came back to ask for our names to enter into the Vatican’s Guest Book.
I FOUND THE LINK ABOVE ON YOUTUBE BUT I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE. GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY! HERE'S HOPING IT'S NOT OFFENSIVE!
SORRY FOR THE BELATED BIRTHDAY GREETING. WHERE WAS MY MIND! NEXT YEAR I'LL REMEMBER TO SEND A CARD.
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April 15th, 2008 - Pope Benedetto XVI Visits USA
For His 81st Birthday ... ...
(Wish I could be there!)
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