Since my flight from Lourdes was delayed, I arrived in Rome very late on February 10th. I took a taxi from the airport to the Sant'Anselmo Benedictine monastery where I stayed throughout my trip to Rome. The next morning, I woke up very early to serve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica for my dear friend Msgr. Arthur Calkins from the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei." St. Peter's basilica was well-lit at 6 am:
After getting off the bus #23, I had just a short walk down the Via della Conciliazione (Road of the Conciliation) to get a closer look at St. Peter's. Since the 15th Century, the site which the Via della Conciliazione now covers remained occupied by residential, religious, and historical buildings. The final impetus behind the road's construction was primarily political. The territory of the Papal States outside of the Vatican itself was taken by the Kingdom of Italy during the Italian unification in the 19th Century – leading to Pope Pius IX's declaration that he had become a prisoner in the Vatican. For the next 59 years, the Popes refused to leave the Vatican, in order to avoid any appearance of accepting the authority wielded by the Italian government over the Catholic Church. Eventually, a compromise acceptable to both states was reached in the Lateran treaty of 1929. This is the "conciliation" behind the name of Via della Conciliazione.
Just to the left of St. Peter's is the building which houses the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei."
A camera shows who is ringing the doorbell:
On the left, my dear friend Msgr. Arthur Calkins. He has helped me for many years throughout my discernment of the priesthood. He has written many books and articles throughout his years as a priest, and many of them can be found online. In particular, I recommend my favorite of his articles:
Why the Heart? Why do we honor the Hearts of Jesus and Mary? This article gives the answer.
The president of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei," Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, was also in his office, so we took a quick photo with him after a short conversation:
Being a Wednesday (February 11th - The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes), Msgr. Calkins and I went to the Pope's General Audience. He picked up the tickets the day before:
We were in the
Reparto Speciale, or "special section" closer to the pope than most at the Audience:
The Holy Father arrives:
Here is a
video of his final blessing after the General Audience. He says in Latin:
Blessed be the name of the Lord. Both now and forever.
Our help is in the name of the Lord. Who made heaven and earth.
May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit:
Later, Msgr. Calkins and I visited the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa's order) in Rome. I have never seen such joy in a group of people. I fell in love with these nuns immediately, and they all hugged me and showed an immense amount of love. Msgr. Calkins told them about my illness many months ago, and they have been praying for me since then. I was very happy to finally meet them in person and to distribute the
prayer cards to Fr. Thomas Frederick Price, which some of them are happily displaying in the photo:
The next day, I visited the Pontifical Academy for Life in Rome. The Academy deals with all issues dealing with life:
I met up with my dear friend Msgr. Jean Laffitte. Msgr. Jean Laffitte is a Catholic priest of the diocese of Autun, France. He is a consultor to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a professor of conjugal ethics, anthropology and spirituality at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, which is part of the Lateran University. He was appointed by Pope John Paul II on Jan. 28, 2005, as the under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family. He was appointed vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life on January 24, 2006, by Pope Benedict XVI. After a tour of the Academy (near the Vatican), we went to a wonderful Chinese restaurant for lunch - a tradition of ours whenever I visit Rome:
Congregation for the Clergy - 2nd Floor:
And here we are:
Msgr. and I went to the Sunday Papal Angelus in St. Peter's square. Here, we both look very pensive as we contemplate the Pope's words:
The pope is speaking into a microphone from the tiny open window:
A close-up of our Holy Father:
Dinner later in the week with Fr. Joseph Kramer, FSSP. He is the first pastor of the
Fraternity of Saint Peter's personal parish in Rome. A tiny glass of Limoncello is always in order if one is in Italy:
Dinner with the "Empress" Barbara Ginnasi and Msgr. Ignatius Barreiro, a devoted supporter of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form. In September 1998, Msgr. Barreiro was appointed Director of the
Human Life International Rome Office, which was inaugurated on November of that same year, with the blessings of Pope John Paul II. The Empress Ginnasi holds our favorite dog, Oliver:
The Empress Ginnasi offers me some Limoncello, as Msgr. Soseman takes the photo. The best quote of the meal by Msgr. Soseman: "The Limoncello tastes like lemon-scented furniture polish, as usual!"
Tomorrow I leave Virginia, where I have lived for the past three years, to return to North Carolina. I will take up residence in one of the Catholic parishes outside of Raleigh, and I begin radiation and chemotherapy on March 9th.
