Have any of you seen the Pope in real life?

[Filioque]

General Audience with Pope John Paul II in 1999.

 

[dixieagle]

We have been to several general audiences - one with Blessed JPII, and one with Pope Benedict.

Our family (dh, two dds and I) was also most fortunate to have had a private audience with Blessed JPII in 2001, arranged, we believe, by either our Archbishop or by then-Abp. John Foley, who was President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication, and had given us a wonderful tour of the Vatican the day before. (My husband has worked in television news and taught journalism for decades and our Archbishop had put him in touch with Abp. (later Cardinal) Foley.)

We received a call from one of the Sisters who handled such things, informing us that we were invited to the Pope’s quarters the next day and telling us about the dress code (long sleeves, modest skirt length, etc.) and where to enter. There were a couple other families and a few ambassadors there that day, and each family was ushered individually into the room where His Holiness was. He was showing serious signs of Parkinson’s disease by then, and speaking was increasingly difficult, but he spoke with us and gave us his blessing, and we told him we would pray for him on his upcoming trip (he was leaving the next day on a trip… I don’t remember where.)

I was totally dumbstruck; it was the most amazing experience of our lives.

 

[Not_Sure_1]

April last year, my school had a trip to Italy. We went from Venice to Rome, and visited the Vatican. I saw the pope during one of his general audiences? Got my miraculous medal blessed, but the pope was so far away.

Also, I spent Palm Sunday mass in an old Romanesque Church in Florence.

Not bad for a public school!

Then again, it was an Italian trip, so the people on the trip, besides a few, were either Italian or Spanish. So it was basically a bunch of Catholics going to Italy!

 

[Hmgbrd]

Yup, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II, both in Rome.

 

[amsjj]

I saw Pope Benedict XVI at the Newman Beatification Mass last year. First seat, second row, on the ground in front of the altar. I never expected to have such a blessing as that – Blessed John Henry was so kind to me!

take care,
amsjj

+++
Jesus, God and man,
imprisoned by love in Thy most holy Sacrament,
have mercy upon us.
– Blessed John Henry Newman, December 22, 1851

Tú y yo sabemos por la fe que oculto en las especies sacramentales está Cristo,
ese Cristo con su Cuerpo, con su Sangre, con su Alma, y con su Divinidad,
prisonero de amor.
– San Josemaria Escriva, 1 junio 1974

 

[barb_finnegan]

Yup, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II, both in Rome.

You just reminded me…my first ‘Pope sighting’ was Pope Paul VI, during my first trip to Italy in 1977. First time was ‘expected’, the second, ‘unexpected’.

The first ‘sighting’ was at the Wednesday public audience, in that ugly hall now named for him. For some reason, I and four other members of our six-person pilgrim group were not able to get inside and get a seat. I remember that those left out ‘in the cold’ were pretty ticked, and tried to reason with the Swiss Guards! We were stuck out in the vestibule-I remember one of the two older ladies (a Southerner from Kentucky-her husband was a real live ‘Kentucky Colonel’ ) got jostled by someone behind her, and she gave the perpetrator a hard elbow jab back! Guess who managed to get a seat? My elderly roommate, a spinster lady from the Bronx! My only views of the Holy Father coming in on the ‘Sedia Gestatoria’ were looking around other people’s backs!

I even attempted to take photos—and when I got them back, all I got was the back of some guy’s head!

The second ‘sighting’ was on the day of our departure. Our hotel was within walking distance from the Vatican, and the two men in the group and I decided to go back over to St. Peter’s one last time before the group left for the airport (remember, this was in the ‘pre-9/11 era’). There was a canonization ceremony that day: Charbel Makhlouf, the first Maronite Lebanese to be made a Saint. It was originally scheduled to be outdoors in the Square, but the weather was overcast and probably rainy (it was October), and of course the Holy Father was an elderly man and those in charge of the Mass didn’t want him to get sick.

So the three of us went into the Basilica (again, pre-9/11, no security check), and entered through one of the side doors, when suddenly the organ sounded, applause broke out, and in came Pope Paul VI, seated in the ‘Sedia Gestoria’! Flash bulbs were popping all over the place, and I waved and said half-aloud, ‘I see him! I see him!’ Unfortunately, I had already used up all of my film (x-ray machines at the airport, don’t you know), and so I got no pictures of him coming into the canonization Mass.

The two guys and I went back to the hotel and told the three ladies who didn’t go how we got a glimpse of the Holy Father at the start of the canonization Mass. It was unexpected—and exciting!

 

[barb_finnegan]

I saw Pope Benedict XVI at the Newman Beatification Mass last year. First seat, second row, on the ground in front of the altar. I never expected to have such a blessing as that – Blessed John Henry was so kind to me!

take care,
amsjj

Oh, how lucky YOU were to be at the Beatification Mass with Papa Benedict!

And yes, Blessed John Henry Newman WAS kind to you!

I watched it online via EWTN. I wept for joy at the pronouncement and unveiling of the newly Blessed’s image!
+++
Jesus, God and man,
imprisoned by love in Thy most holy Sacrament,
have mercy upon us.
– Blessed John Henry Newman, December 22, 1851

Tú y yo sabemos por la fe que oculto en las especies sacramentales está Cristo,
ese Cristo con su Cuerpo, con su Sangre, con su Alma, y con su Divinidad,
prisonero de amor.
– San Josemaria Escriva, 1 junio 1974

 

[barb_finnegan]

I saw Pope Benedict XVI at the Newman Beatification Mass last year. First seat, second row, on the ground in front of the altar. I never expected to have such a blessing as that – Blessed John Henry was so kind to me!

take care,
amsjj

+++
Jesus, God and man,
imprisoned by love in Thy most holy Sacrament,
have mercy upon us.
– Blessed John Henry Newman, December 22, 1851

Tú y yo sabemos por la fe que oculto en las especies sacramentales está Cristo,
ese Cristo con su Cuerpo, con su Sangre, con su Alma, y con su Divinidad,
prisonero de amor.
– San Josemaria Escriva, 1 junio 1974

Oh, how lucky you were to be at the Beatification Mass with Papa Benedict!

I watched it online via EWTN.

And yes, Blessed John Henry Newman WAS kind to you!

I wept for joy when the sentence of beatification was pronounced, and the image of the newly Blessed was unveiled!

 

[centurionguard]

Saw Pope John Paul II World tour Canada and United States…25 feet from Pope Mobile.

Also saw Mother Teresa of Calcutta same year 20-30 feet from where she sat when I was singing in a choir at a my city coliseum. Have her name tag that was on her chair in my bible.

 

[Holly3278]

I have never seen Blessed John Paul II or Pope Benedict XVI but I have seen my former Bishop. I got to meet him and talk to him during the Rite of Election in RCIA and I have a picture of him and I plus a few other people standing with him.