How to get an audience with the Pope
TRAVEL
So you’re off to Rome and
in addition to seeing the Colosseum, you want to see the new Pope. But how?
Your best bet is to attend a general audience (also known as a papal audience), a weekly gathering that the American Catholic Church in Rome says includes prayers, blessings and a homily. It is not a Mass but, rather, a chance to listen to the Pope and mingle with other attendees. (The rocker Patti Smith was among the most recent visitors.)
Tours both old and new enable those now flocking to Rome for a glimpse of Pope Francis, who assumed the role in March, to get a seat at an audience.
There are week-long romps through the Eternal City that include tours of ancient Rome and Assisi. There are half-day excursions with transportation to and from your hotel. And there are no-frills affairs for those who simply want to be escorted into the audience from just beyond St. Peter’s Square.
Lasting about an hour and a half, audiences draw thousands of people and take place on Wednesday mornings in St. Peter’s Square or in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall. (During the summer, the general audience may take place outside of Rome at Castel Gandolfo.) Tickets are free and you can get them yourself, but to ensure admission, you should request them weeks in advance (and then pick them up in person in Rome).
To get tickets, write to the Vatican: go to the website Vatican.va, choose your language, click on the “Prefecture of the Papal Household” link and then download the ticket request form, which you must fill out and mail (not email) or fax. The Diocese of Hamilton also offers a web page with a link to the site. Go to:
hamiltondiocese.com/chancellor/papal-audience.php
Once you are in Rome there are day tours that include round-trip transportation between major hotels and the general audience. Gray Line, for instance, will take you by bus past sites like the Piazza della Repubblica, Piazza Barberini, Via Veneto, Villa Borghese, Piazza del Popolo and its Egyptian obelisk, and Castel Sant’Angelo before arriving in Vatican City. About $46 US for adults; $37 US for children: Grayline.com.
City Discovery, another sightseeing company, also charges around $46 US for adults; $37 US for children. Its Papal Audience With Pope Francis half-day bus tour includes stops at the Piazza dell’Esquilino, Republic Square, the Mermaids Fountain, Villa Borghese, Castel Sant’Angelo and St. Peter’s Square: City-discovery.com.
Should you be averse to group travel, you can sign up for a program that offers little more than an escort to the general audience. No group bus trip. No lunch. Your guide simply meets you at Vatican City. Viator.com, a site that culls tours and activities from local guides and offers online reviews about them, has such a tour.
For $42 US you receive a seat at the general audience and commentary from a guide about the history of St. Peter’s Square and the papacy:
Viator.com.
If you have time and patience, you may want to procure the tickets yourself and go it alone. That said, some tour operators promise guests a seat during the audience (many people end up standing). The companies also take away the hassle: no need to book so far in advance, pick up tickets in Rome or navigate through the throngs of people.
Will there be a general audience when you visit Rome? It’s typically a weekly affair but check the website of the American Catholic Church in Rome through the website:
santasusanna.org.
There may be changes during holidays and in the summer. For the pope’s near-term schedule, there’s — what else? — the Pope App. It’s free and enables you to be reminded of a general audience (“udienza generale,” in Italian, on the app) an hour before it begins, or just as it’s beginning. The app also has news, text of the pope’s previous audiences and other speeches, and a live feed tab.
Another way to see Pope Francis is to attend Sunday Angelus at noon in St. Peter’s Square. You do not need a ticket, though you do need to arrive early.
While Pope Francis has chosen to live in the Vatican guest house rather than the Apostolic Palace as his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI did, he still delivers his message from the study window of an apartment in the palace.