XVI

This morning, I went to the papal audience. Each Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI welcomes the faithful in San Pietro. The service is beautiful: there are readings from the gospel by Cardinals in their various languages and Il Papa himself gives speeches in numerous tongues (after he takes a spin in his windowless doorless white mercedes..it's surreal). Choirs from around the world sing, their tambourines and clarinets reverberating through the square, and everyone was dressed in their national colors or at least with the flag in close proximity. It was an experience I was both prepared and unprepared for. The Pope was pretty adorable (he stood in stark contrast to his gucci-esque secret security) and the people around me seemed excited, even thrilled. At one point, I stood on my chair and took a good look around. There I was, marble statues above, the Pope in his rocking chair, and the citizens of the world gathered on a fall morning. Sure, it wasn't the holiest of events. After all, one's iphone could be blessed along with their shroud. But in the end, the Germans, the French, the Portuguese, the Polish, the Americans, the Italians- they all stood together, laughing together when the Pope rolled by. I don't even know what to say about it. It was just Cool.