So,catch you up on what ive been up to here is a rewound bunch of moments, I wake up on Sunday morning for the second day in Rome, and we decide to go to mass at St. Peters Basilica. Walking over to St. Peters means I have to cross the city, and the Tiber so I am just constantly looking everywhere and am constantly held in attention at the surroundings. The Tiber River is the main defining feature of Rome and its life giving force, although today, it has been stuck between two gigantic retaining walls to stop the flooding (and essentially cut it off from the city completely). The main part of Rome we are focusing on is in the main loop with the city spreading out past it in all directions.
So the group of about 8 of us cross the river and proceed to walk down the main thoroughfare that leads up to St. Peters that is perfectly on axis with it and is marked with repetitive markers on the side to lead you in to land at the doorstep. Upon entering the big oval piazza in front of the church, the pure scale of everything hits you in the face with a bat. The columns are all so large, that they dwarf everybody, and the statues on top of them are 3 to 4 times life size. After drooling for a bit, we proceed inside, and sit down in the rows of pews of the central church for all of the Catholic Church with the Pope living next door. Right before the mass starts, an attendee comes up and asks us where we are from. We think he is going to kick us out for not being Italian or something and begrudgingly say Los Angeles, to which he replies something unexpected. He asks us if four of us would like to be part of the ceremony………… Of course we would…………. So Pat, Matt, Michael, and I walk up with the man to the front of the whole church to the main alter and he tells us all the goings on that we do, and we sit in the front row to wait our time. First row seats for god. So there is the usual procession of singing and prayers and all sorts of stuff, then we get up and take the various things we were assigned to the main priest in the center of the church. Standing there under a huge cupola, everybody’s eyes on me, looking at the priest and handing him the sacred oil in one of the most important churches in Italy, was certainly a memorable experience. Sitting in the front row also had its perks in the fact that I was so close to the amazing sculpture behind the altar with the sunrays and clouds lifting up a huge chair all cast in gold and bronze.
So the whole procession is coming to an end and the light starts to hit the window so perfectly that the sun beams streaming into the church from the nave to our left and illuminated two marble statues so perfectly, that they looked like they were coming to life. It was a magical moment, and one to look back on fondly.
Then we finish up, and we all mill about the church looking at all the various sculptures and such, the highlight of which is La Pietta Michaelangelo’s sculpture of Mary and Jesus that was so soft and flowy that it stood head and shoulders above the rest. Then as we were all congregating around the door, we hear a ruckus coming from outside, and head out to see what it is. The overwhelming piazza that seemed so daunting as we arrived had been completely filled with people. We had no idea what was going on, until Jim pointed up to the little window with a red sash in front of it, with the Pope himself addressing the crowd. Apparently it was his address to the community for a recent goings on with the universities and the strained ties with the church and education. Anyways, the Pope is a Rockstar. People chant his name and every time he said something memorable, they cheered and went wild.
After all this, we head off to go to our soccer game. We hop on the bus and know immediately that we are going the right direction, because everyone on the bus is decked head to toe in AS Roma gear. The stadium is huge and new and well designed with a huge space frame around the perimeter above holding sun shades and things and the whole stadium is in an uproar when we walk in. It isn’t a sold out crowd, but the Roma section makes up for it with huge flags waving everywhere and smoke bombs going off all the time. The Roma song comes on and a sea of scarves raise up with every man woman, and child singing along to every word. (In Italy, you can change your job, your friends, even sometimes your family, but you can never change your team so these people are Roma fans for life). There is such undying devotion here for the soccer teams, that it truly brings all the people of the towns together in support. This is an effect that has yet to catch on to such a severe degree in the US. There are teams that come sort of close, but nothing compares to the unyielding support of these soccer towns. Roma won 2-0 to the crowds delight, and everyone piled back onto the busses to go home.
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