Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square

Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peters Square

St. Peter's Square

Visitors on their way to the St. Peter's Basilica pass along St. Peter's Square, a grandiose elliptical esplanade created in the mid seventeenth century by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The square is bordered by massive colonnades that symbolizes outstretched arms. Bernini and his assistants sculpted the 140 statues of saints that grace the balustrades on the colonnades. The square is decorated with fountains and an Egyptian obelisk that was transported to Rome in 37 AD. (We were just in front of the obelisk during mass).

Good Saturday preparation for Easter Sunday.  

We toured the Vatican on Good Saturday which allowed us to get up close to the altar used during Easter mass.  They were preparing the decorations and going through a run-through of the mass.  

 The cross and looking up at the papal balcony

It rained hard most of the Saturday night.  Easter Sunday morning was crisp and clear.. here is the view of St. Peter's Basilica as we head toward St. Peter's square for Easter Sunday mass.

 Here we are waiting in line to get through security.  The "better lucky than having a good plan" story --  Europe changed to daylight savings time @ 2am Easter Sunday, moving the clocks ahead 1 hour.  Since we were using my I Touch for an alarm clock, and since it didn't have an Internet connection, I manually set the time ahead 1 hour before bed.  We woke to the alarm a little weary but got ready and headed to breakfast, which we found not open.. that's when Lori figured out that the I Touch had also moved the clock ahead another hour overnight meaning we had jumped 2 hours ahead.  After they opened breakfast, we quickly ate and headed off to the Vatican early. When we got into the long line, we were seeing everyone with tickets  (apparently, ordered months in advance).  About that time, 4 students from St. Mary's South Bend IN came along the line with extra tickets.    - better to be lucky than have a good plan.

 We ended up right in front of the obelisk.

 The square was filling up.. 

 The mass...  the entrance

A picture of the square from one of the Jumbotrons.  The square was full.. est ~ 250,000 people

The Mercedes Benz Pope-mobile... after the mass, Pope Francis toured through the crowd 

The Pope touring 

The Papal blessing after mass

Left the hotel at 8a, finished at 1p.. Lot's of standing and in need of a rest. 

 The crowd filtering out...