Have any of you seen the Pope in real life?

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Paul_theApostle

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Has anyone here had a glimspe of the Pope? perhaps at WYD or in your city or country?

If not would you like to ?,perhaps visit Rome maybe or St Peters?
 
No, but once when I was seven years old Mother Teresa came to our Mass and I briefly met her afterward.
 
Saw him during the 1995 WYD. The pope-mobile was 15 feet from us when it passed by.
 
Paul_theApostle said:
Has anyone here had a glimspe of the Pope? perhaps at WYD or in your city or country?

If not would you like to ?,perhaps visit Rome maybe or St Peters?
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Not Pope Benedict but I have been to midnight mass with Blessed Pope John Paul II on Christmas 1984.
 
Yes, I have been to the general audience in February, 2009, the Year of St. Paul. We were sitting in the front rows, very close to His Holiness seat. I was absolutely excited to see the Vicar of Christ.
Actually it was a week long pilgrimage led by our Bishop, so we had Mass in 4 main basilicas in Rome, climbed Scala Sancta and visited Assisi.
And, as I am trying to follow the Ignatian path, I spent quite a lot of time in El Gesu, went to confession there, the first and only time in my life face-to-face.
I would recommend everyone to go to Rome, if there is a chance, it gives one the feeling of the universal Church.
 
I saw the previous pope in 1998 and then in 2000 at the WYD in Rome.

Last year pope Benedict was visiting the UK and I went to greet him on the streets of Edinburgh.
 
Years ago I went to a Mass celebrated by JPII in Sydney, and still have a dearly treasured souvenir rosary as a memento.
 
Paul_theApostle said:
Has anyone here had a glimspe of the Pope? perhaps at WYD or in your city or country?

If not would you like to ?,perhaps visit Rome maybe or St Peters?
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I have never seen any of the Popes but I would love to go to visit Rome and St. Peter’s. I am getting into shape hoping that my husband and I can make a trip to Rome sometime.
Also, my granddaughter is in a girl’s choir. They are very good and their dream is to to earn money to go to Rome (in maybe two or three years from now). I also have a daughter (aunt of my granddaughter) in the girls choir but I don’t know if she will still be in the choir in two or three years. She is already 21.
 
Yes twice, Angelus at Castel Gandolfo in 2005 and St. Peter’s in 2009.
 
I haven’t seen Papa Benedict in person, but I did see Blessed John Paul II in person: once as a Cardinal, three times as Pope.

I first saw him as Cardinal Wojtyla at the Eucharistic Congress in Philly, in 1976. I went on a bus trip with members of two Polish parishes (I’m not one bit Polish, but a friend of mine at the time invited me to come, so I did). We attended the Mass at the old Veterans’ Stadium. I found out later that the priest who led our group was a seminary classmate of Cardinal Wojtyla’s in Poland! Everything at the Mass was in Polish, so I couldn’t understand a thing; but I remember the Cardinal’s strong, vibrant speaking voice. We also saw the two Cardinals (Wojtyla and Krol) coming in and out at the end of the procession of bishops and priests. And when Cardinal Wojtyla was elected Pope two years later, I said to my mother, 'Hey, I know who he is–I saw him in ‘76!’

On my second trip to Italy in 1979, I had my first glimpse of now-Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica. My pilgrimage group had finished a tour of the Vatican Museums, and we came into the Basilica just as he finished a Mass for deceased Cardinals; I spotted him as he was going back up the nave to return to the sacristy. Then we saw him at the Wednesday audience-I got a great picture of him as he passed in the ‘popemobile’! Then two nuns in my group and I got a long-distance glimpse of him through the Vatican gates-there was a Bishops’ Synod going on at the time.

My third trip, a solo one in 1981, I saw him only in the audience hall (it was in November). I got another great picture as he went by, but to this day I don’t remember how or when I took it! I did get some pictures as he greeted people on the way to the stage. I remember leaning over the barricade and yelling out, ‘Holy Father! Holy Father!’ to get his attention…nothing doing! Too noisy!

Then the last time I ever saw him in person was in 1983, when I attended a Mass of ordination to the priesthood in St. Peter’s. A seminarian friend of mine invited me to come-and if I hadn’t shown my friend the ticket he initially gave me, I could have sat with his family and received Communion from the Holy Father! But my friend snatched it out of my hands before we left for Rome, and I had to sit in another part of the Basilica! Nuts! Oh, well…I did get some decent ‘long distance’ photos of the Mass, though.

All great and glorious memories…sigh…
 
Contra_Mundum said:
I saw the previous pope in 1998 and then in 2000 at the WYD in Rome.

Last year pope Benedict was visiting the UK and I went to greet him on the streets of Edinburgh.
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Oh, how lucky you were to see Papa Benedict last year in Edinburgh! I watched most of his visit online via EWTN. I bet you were thrilled to see him in person!
 
barb_finnegan said:
Oh, how lucky you were to see Papa Benedict last year in Edinburgh! I watched most of his visit online via EWTN. I bet you were thrilled to see him in person!
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I was. The atmosphere was amazing. There was so much negative media coverage before his visit that I seriously thought there would be rioting on the streets. Nothing of the sort. Many people showed up, cheered and welcomed him. Unfortunately I couldn’t go to Glasgow for the mass but I watched it on tv.

I’d love to see him in Rome soon.
 
November 2005, I saw Pope Benedict at his Sunday blessing, again at his Wednesday audience, and then had the wonderful experience of attending Mass offered by him in St. Peter’s.🙂
 
I’ve never seen Benedict XVI in person but I was there when John Paul II celebrated Mass at Giant’s Stadium in 1995. It was amazing. 😃
 
I missed my chance in 1995. I was a nominal Catholic back then.

But most people don’t even see their own bishop in real life.
 
choliks said:
But i bet you’ve seen the Patriarch of your Church. 🙂
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No I haven’t. I am in close contact with my bishop, but that’s it. I haven’t even seen the Metropolitan in person. His Beatitude Lubomyr visited our cathedral in 2007. I was already here in Canada then but wasn’t interested in the Eastern Rites at that time.

In the 30 years I have been a Roman Catholic in the Philippines, I don’t believe I have even seen the Archbishop of Manila or Bishop of Cubao in person.

I have seen the RC Archbishop of Vancouver I think only once or twice in person from afar. Its harder to see the RC bishops because they have more parishes and they don’t even normally get to go to all their parishes for years, unless there’s a special event. My UGCC bishop only has 4 parishes in the metropolitan area and would routinely go around them when he’s here. Plus he makes it a point to visit every parish during their praznik (feast day). I think he has about a dozen parishes throughout his territory, so he can visit each parish at least once a year.

I’d really love to see the Pope in real life. I hope God grants me the opportunity.
 
I saw Blessed Pope John II in Chicago in 1979. My mom took us out of the school that day to go watch the procession. 🙂
 
I will the 4th or 5th next month. My dads taking us all to Italy for 10 days. Next year were hoping to go to The Holy Land. 🙂
 
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