Click here to see pictures from the Pilgrimage
Thanks to luck and prayer from all of our group participants we made it to St. Peter's Square. It was all made possible since we spent Saturday night into Sunday morning on the streets adjacent to the Vatican. We resigned ourselves from sleeping in comfortable beds in our hotel in order to hopefully secure spots as close as possible to the ceremony, all the while sleeping on curbs and sidewalks.
At 5:25am the gates were opened to St. Peter's Square and we were one of the first groups to get in. We were able to find a spot right by the left light post next to the central obelisk in the square. From this spot we had a great view of the entire square, especially on St. Peter's Basilica. After only a few minutes the entire square was full and it began to get crowded. Everyone wanted to be there, but the square can only hold about 250,000 people when packed full. Many streets outside the square were filled, especially Via della Conciliazione, the street that leads head on into the square.
As happy as we all were, we were also very tired from our overnight camping and so we took some time to rest before preparing to take part in holy mass. On the light pole we hung a very large portrait of the Polish former pope, surrounded by smaller polish flags. After mass began we would also, from time to time, pull out a large American flag and raise it as high as we could.
Each one of us, in our own personal way, were experiencing this mass very emotionally. As soon as Pope Benedict XVI finished saying the following words, it happened: "after reaching an agreement, the congress to holy matters, with our apostolic authority that from this moment forth John Paul II hold the title of 'BLESSED'," a massive portrait of John Paul II, which was covered the entire time, was uncovered and everyone in St. Peter's Square and the surrounding streets erupted in applause and cheers. Songs were heard being sung in a number of languages as people cheered for the next couple of minutes. It was this moment that made the entire trip worth it, that easily justified all of the hardships that led up to this moment. To be surrounded by over 1.5 million fellow admirers of John Paul II in a harmony of cheers and tears is something we will never forget.
On Friday and Saturday we were able to tour the basilica and Vatican Museum, including the famous Sistine Chapel. On Friday we saw a massive portrait of John Paul II in St. Peter's Square, next to which we took our first group picture. On Sunday evening we were able to (after waiting 2 hours in line) see the tomb of our late blessed pope and make a short prayer.
To our surprise we met with Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski and Bishop Wladyslaw Blin from Belarus.
The next day we took part in a thanksgiving type mass, also taking place at St. Peter's Square. On the other hand on May 3rd, a Polish national holiday (Constitution Day) we took part in a holy mass by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. After this mass we met with Archbishop Jozef Michalik as well as many other known Polish bishops.
Our pilgrimage to the Vatican and our participation in this historic event that was the Beatification of our late pope, John Paul II, was very successful.
