Who’s waiting for a pope in St. Peter’s Square?
Pilgrims, tourists, and Buddhist monks gather beneath the Sistine chimney.
Joseph Daniel, originally from Kentucky, stood with his wife, Johanna, and hundreds of other pilgrims in the middle of St. Peter’s Square throughout the Mass for the election of the Roman Pontiff on Wednesday morning.
The couple had arranged travel to Rome as soon as they learned the date of the conclave.
They had been keeping abreast of the news since they learned that Pope Francis died April 21, Joseph told The Pillar.
When they knew that the first vote was slated for May 7, they bought their tickets and flew over to the Eternal City.
“I feel extremely blessed to be here at this moment, in front of St. Peter’s” Joseph said. “I am very grateful to God to be here with my wife.”
Their favored spot is not far from the basilica’s loggia or central balcony, where the cardinal protodeacon, Dominique Mamberti, will introduce to the world the 266th Successor of St. Peter — unless Mamberti himself happens to be elected.
From their vantage point, Joseph and Johanna would also be able to see whether smoke rising out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney was black or white.
“We plan on staying right here and holding this great spot,” he said.
The devout Catholics, regular worshippers at their home parish, waited with a few others under alternating sunshine and rain in the piazza.
Security had closed off the basilica shortly after Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, with the College of Cardinals as concelebrants, started the Mass, while many stood in line hoping to get in.
“The basilica is full,” said one of the security personnel.
Guards were posted not only in and around the square but also on the adjacent Via della Conciliazione and the streets leading to it. Journalists covering the Mass and later the conclave were given reserved places immediately outside the piazza.
On Via della Conciliazione, one lane has been fenced off to serve as the path to the basilica for registered Jubilee pilgrims. Pilgrims assisted by leaders carrying the Jubilee cross continued to use their lane until Mass was about to begin.
Many who could not be admitted into the church looked for alternative places to stay in the piazza. It was slightly chilly, there was plenty of space, and birds of many kinds were at play.
Those who chose to participate in the Mass followed it through the giant screens close to the monuments to Sts. Peter and Paul. They took shelter under Bernini’s columns or put up their hoods and umbrellas whenever it rained.
They listened as Cardinal Re delivered a homily based on the Gospel reading according to St. John, in which Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another.
“The love that Jesus reveals knows no limits and must characterize the thoughts and actions of all his disciples, who must always show authentic love in their behaviour and commit themselves to building a new civilization, what Paul VI called the ‘civilization of love,’” the cardinal said.
“Love is the only force capable of changing the world.”
The people in the square carried different but complementary hopes for the coming papacy.
Joseph said he entrusted everything to the cardinal-electors and “into the hands of the Lord,” certain that the Holy Spirit would guide them.
Speaking about the next pontiff, he said, “I hope that he is a warrior who fights for the truth.”
Caroline Healy shared her delight that a cruise she is on had stopped in Rome at the start of the conclave.
For Healy, an Englishwoman and the only Catholic among her group of friends in the square, the next pontiff must be similar to the late pope.
That, she said, means “a modern pope — somebody who is a bit like Francis but prepared to go a bit more forward.”
In addition to Catholics themselves, there were many non-Catholics in the square.
A pair of travelers from China made St. Peter’s part of their itinerary even though, as one of them told The Pillar, their visit to the Vatican did not carry any religious meaning.
Nyanayasha, a Buddhist monk from Indonesia, told The Pillar that he came to the square because he appreciated Pope Francis’ positive impact on the world.
Standing close to the Vatican Obelisk with a Rome-based fellow monk whom he is visiting, he praised the late pope, saying that “he certainly did his work with a lot of compassion and understanding based on humanity.”
“When I heard that he was elected in 2013,” the monk said, “I was really happy and started following him.”
“I hope the next pope will have the same spirit — to work not only based on religion but based on global humanity,” he said.
“Love and compassion have become [humanity’s] common language, so no matter what religion or belief you are in, if we speak the language of love, compassion, and understanding, it becomes easy for us to collaborate for the same mission and to have that conversation,” the monk added.
“Compassion is a very important element that I hope the new pope would embody.”
Renata Kazue from Brazil and Wei Liu from Taiwan shared similar views.
For Kazue, the pope has a positive impact on the world and has an important role, adding that the coming pope should bring the Church out of what is outdated.
Liu said the new pope must have an international outlook because he is a voice for peace and can bring people together “in a positive way.”
The sounds from the Mass, in which the propers were sung or read in Latin, mingled with the periodic ringing of bells to mark the passage of time.
After the Mass, several pilgrims queued up at the post office on St. Peter’s Square, hoping to buy special edition stamps commemorating the papal interregnum or use those stamps in the postcards that they mailed.
The relatively sparse morning outdoor crowd in the square and surrounding areas contrasted with the large number of people who gathered in the afternoon for the start of the conclave, when the weather had considerably improved.
More and more people filled St. Peter’s Square as the conclave began, with the cardinals walking and chanting the Litany of the Saints as they made their way to the election, the scene displayed on large video monitors in the piazza.
In the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals, led by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, sang the invocation of the Holy Spirit and one by one took their oaths as electors.
Applause broke out across the square as the Vatican’s master of ceremonies Archbishop Diego Ravelli said “Extra omnes,” ordering those not involved in the conclave to leave the chapel. The spectators again clapped when the chapel doors were shut.
Following reports that the smoke would be rising from the Sistine’s chimney around 7 p.m., the crowd became very excited by 8 p.m. when nothing had yet emerged from the chimney.
They began clapping periodically, at least five times, as if to urge the cardinals to hurry, throughout the hour.
Many patiently waited, with children playing in the square where there was space remaining. Those present talked with one another, praying, smoking, or taking photos. A group of sisters sang. Many clerics and religious prayed the rosary or the Eastern Catholic Jesus Prayer, which is also offered with the help of prayer beads.
The crowd collectively groaned a couple of minutes before 9 p.m. when the outdoor monitors went out due to a glitch, and groaned louder still when dark smoke started rising out of the chimney, with many Italians hollering “Nera!” (black).
That was the signal for everyone, cardinal or not, to go home for the night.
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