Father John Meets the Pope

In May of 2012, I went to Rome. I had been invited to give a paper at a Vatican conference, and since they were paying for the trip, it seemed a good chance to try and present the Gospels in Braille to the Holy Father. The following is a scattered visiting of that trip.

Rome notes – in no particular order and definitely NOT strictly chronological.

Romans are like Africans – when they speak in public, it is VERY loud.

There is a roof top terrace at the residence, and the view down to St. Peter’s is gorgeous. Actually, the view in 360 degrees is pretty good, and I will go and take pictures. It is also where people go and smoke and once I find matches, part of this afternoon will be spent upstairs.

That's the view from the roof
looking toward St. Peter's

Of course everyone speaks Italian, and there is a lot of French. I have heard very little English, and since I have spoken French in passing to several people, no one seems to associate me with English. Each place at breakfast (for visitors, ie not a full-time resident) has a stand with your number on it. That way they can tell who has or has not eaten. It also means you don’t get to sit with and meet other people. Breakfast is buffet and varied – several juices from a machine, wonderful rolls, cold cuts and cheeses and fruit, cereal, yogurt, jams, coffee and tea – probably some other things I missed, but more than adequate. Foreigners have a much better sense of breakfast than Americans. Well – ok, I really like bacon and eggs and sausage and pancakes – but really good rolls and meats aren’t bad either.

The shower is wonderful and hot and good pressure. The door leaks. The heavy shade cannot be opened – maybe because it is too low, but the catch that would raise it and keep it open is missing, so it is hard to get air into the room. The clothes closet is quite tall, and the rack for hanging clothes is quite out of reach. But there is a pole with a hook on the end, so one can reach up and bring clothes down or hang them back up. The lights require your room card to be stuck in a slot by the door. That way you’ can’t go out and leave your lights on.

The trip over was gentle. I got to the airport very early. United sells seats with extra room, including exit row - $89 for the center seat of a 3 grouping, and $109 for all others. That’s all you get – a little extra room. And the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped increase the revenues of United Airlines. Because of the tightness of my schedule, I packed so that I could carry on my other bag, and to save the hassle I simply bought a small toothpaste when I went through security. Which, at Newark, continues to be a pain in the hoohoo. They were using the full body scanner, which requires everything out of your pockets, including pocket handkerchief and plastic comb. Some poor guy ahead of me didn’t speak English too well, so he took everything out of his pocket and held it in his hand, including money and several other things that need to go through the scanner. The TSA guys were just plain mean – rude and sarcastic and intimidating. Bet HE was glad to be leaving America. If he was. A violinist, the accent sounded Israeli but I couldn’t be sure. I thought briefly about intervening and then decided against it.

The seats on the plane were adequate and one of the best screen entertainment centers I’ve seen in a long time. It was on when you boarded, and you could play games and listen to music and watch videos throughout boarding and even during take off. When there was a cabin announcement, everything was suspended. One man several rows ahead of me started playing solitaire and except for occasional excursions into the trip feature (where you can see where the plane is on the route) he played solitaire for the whole trip. The attendant who did the English announcements throughout the flight would pause – and when she paused she would release the mike – which meant your video would start up for a second and then stop. Since she would pause eight or ten times for a routine announcement, you could lose a chunk of your video without being able to rewind and figure out what you had missed. I know – my grandmother used to say not to get annoyed because if they were any smarter, they wouldn’t have the jobs they’ve got.

Food was – well, airline food and fairly well down on the list of airline foods. Service was haphazard and not very good and the attendants were testy and not very pleasant. I haven’t flown United in a while, and now I remember why. Since someone else was paying for the trip, I can’t get too excited. But I will certainly NOT go out of my way to fly United.

We were 30+ minutes late in landing, and I was grateful I did not have to wait for a bag. The car was waiting, the traffic into the city was dreadful. On the way in I shaved and tried to call Ken –and discovered that, in spite of my making a special trip to AT&T to be sure my phone would work in Rome – it doesn’t. No text, no phone – nada. We went to the residence, where I dropped my bags, got the ticket from Ken Gavin and then went to  the piazza to try and find Marco. I had thought the audience would be inside, so I had said to meet me at the entrance. He wasn’t there – I walked around trying to spot him and  what should have been a simple coordination turned into one of those nightmare moments. Although it is not always the case, often enough things have a way of working up, and I found myself working my way up to the front of the piazza. 

The audience area is at the top of the steps leading up to St. Peter’s, with a covered area where the Holy Father sits. I kept showing my ticket and kept getting moved up until I was at the formally dressed usher level. There was one row of chairs along the side of the covered area where the Holy Father sits, and I was shown to my seat. Three of the top men for the blind conference were next to me. So there I was with my black suit, my blue bag (to carry the gospels but which actually only was large enough to handle one of the two volumes) and a smile on my face.

I was seated by 10:20, the audience started at 10:30 and went until almost 1. In the sun. Bright sun. Got the beginnings of a good tan on my face. Everything else was covered up by the black suit. Interesting to be that close and watch what was going on, but truth be told, the general audience is a fairly dull affair and this was no exception. There is a short reading – and the reading is repeated in about six languages. Then from each language group, someone comes and introduces groups from their area that are visiting – and each group shouts, so the Holy Father will know where they are, some have prepared a song - and then, in the language of that group, the Holy Father offers a reflection on the reading, and sometimes greets specific groups that have been mentioned. It is the same reflection – since I can understand four of the languages used, I know that – so it’s not exactly riveting stuff. We all stand and sing the Pater Noster, and the Holy Father gives his blessing (which, they takes pains to announce, also applies to any items you have brought to be blessed) and then they bring up those to be presented to the Holy Father.

You have perhaps 30 seconds in front of the Pope. If you’re a woman you might get hugged. There are a bunch of photographers snapping like mad, most of whom have given you their cards and contact info prior to the session. One who had posted pictures on line, took perhaps 20 of me. If you have something to present to the Holy Father he may or may not take a longer look at it, but it is quickly enough taken and  put wherever they put gifts. Especially if it is something heavy – say like two volumes of braille – it goes by very quickly.

This is one of the two volumes we had made especially
to present to the Holy Father.

And you’re done. On the way off the platform, a nice young priest gives you a rosary with the papal seal on the cover of the case, and you’re done. I walked back to the residence and checked in, got my card and the code for the wifi and went to find my room. 816. Went to the elevator and discovered it only went to 7. Thought there might be another elevator. There is. Only goes to 6. Back to the desk – ah, my room is on the first floor. (It’s so obvious, why didn’t I see that?) Back to the room. Apply the magnetic card, hear the click, nothing happens.  Back to the front desk. Seems you have to hit the door fast the second you hear the click. And I mean karate chop fast. Yup, that does it.

The room is small – a desk and chair, a small table, a bed and nightstand, a standing cupboard for clothes and a small chair for reading. One window, which opens to an alley and parking area, and the building next door is, I think, part of a school. Lots of activity, lots of noise and talking and people going outside to smoke.

Despite a visit to the AT&T store to be sure I would be able to receive and make calls and text messages, my phone does not find a signal, even though the set up indicates an Italian carrier. So I was not able to contact anyone when I was on my way in, even trying to call via the US – nope, nothing happening. So it’s a useful alarm clock and an interesting paperweight. I know, I had said that before – but it loused me up once, and it will again, and I will definitely make an unhappy visit to AT&T when I return.

I unpacked, drank a lot of water and decided to lie down on the bed for a little. When I got up, I discovered I had missed the lunch hour at the dining room, so I changed clothes and went out to walk for a couple of hours. I had a sandwich and a beer from a street vendor and eventually wound my way back to the residence. Did some work, read and aimed for an early bed. Got an email and a friend has offered to take me to dinner at the Yacht Club on Friday, which sounds like fun. I found where the meeting is going to take place, I found a cheaper way to get to the airport on Sunday morning – and I may check my bag going back, just to make life easier. There is nothing to steal in it, and there is no charge for the bag, so why not.

Rome is a very small city. I had breakfast and did some work. I had a hard shade in my room – usually there is a strap with which you can pull the sucker up and down, but there was just a blank spot where it should be so I propped it open with a hanger. Gets a little air in anyway. The maid came in and saw it, and with my basic Italian I explained. She came back a couple of minutes later with a handyman, who removed the hanger, lowered the window and then pushed the little button on the side wall which raises and lowers the blind. Sigh. Another strike against American intelligence.

Browsing, not really shopping, but I picked up a book I had been looking for, dropped it off and went out to see about photos from the audience, and do some walking. Partly seeing favorite spots, and partly just for exercise. I planned on spending most of the day out, enjoying what has been and continues to be truly glorious weather. As I was walking along the Vatican walls, I looked up and walking towards me was a young Jesuit from Nigeria I don’t think I had seen since I left. He didn’t see me, so I stood right in front of him to get his attention. Rome is a very small city. We chatted for a bit, and he invited me to join the community for lunch, so I said yes. He is living in the Curia – the headquarters – he is the secretary to the African Assistant, a very high position, and I had lived there several times years ago. I still knew some people, and it was great fun. Italians tend to eat the larger meal at midday, so it was a good feed – and I will skip supper, to balance things out.

Before going to the Curia, however, I had one errand to finish and that was to visit the Vatican photography office and take a look at the pictures they had taken the day before. I had looked at another photography site on line and seen their offerings, but before ordering I wanted to see what the “official” photographer had done.

In the office there is a central display area with hundreds of pictures from the general audience. I looked through those, and then identified myself and found there was a book with 7 8x10 shots all ready for me. At 4 euro a shot. One has three sizes of printed picture to choose from (at, correspondingly, 4, 3 and 2 euro per shot or at 8 euro a picture, you can have them on a cd disk. I went through all the pictures and of me there were probably 60 to 80. Looking at budget, I made a list – one of the 8x10, and a series of smaller ones (which I can scan when they arrive) and one on a cd so I could have it right away. I went to present my list and pay, and the woman was, well, shocked that I had not picked any of the already printed 8x10’s for my 8x10. I had, in fact, picked several for the smaller prints, but it was obviously a major moment that there were 7 printed pictures and I wasn’t going to take any of them. She talked about it to another women working there, and while I did not understand the rapid Italian, I had obviously upset the boat.

So I offered to take the 7 pictures at 2 euro rather than 4, which startled her, but after more consultation (everything seems to involve consultation) she said yes, so I learned that the skills you learn in Nigeria will serve you well everywhere. At lunch at the Curia, they were duly amused that I had successfully bargained with the Vatican. Or at any rate,

with the Vatican photo office.

The green area is where I was able to
smoke my cigar

When I left the Curia I walked for a little, did some desk work, and then went up to the roof to smoke a very good cigar someone had given me, and do some reading. No one else was there, so I swiped a lighter from one of the chapels (and returned it on the way back to my room). The views are gorgeous. There was a wonderful breeze blowing all the time I was there – one of many nice aspects of having a rooftop place to read and smoke. At one point I thought I might be having a recurrence of an old eye problem – one eye seemed to be going black. Then I realized my adjusting to the light glasses were adjusting – but only one lens was getting light, so it was darkening and the other wasn’t. Whew!

Next morning up early, and strolled over to St. Peter’s. They have great security – wanding and xray and screening – and if you show up in clerics, you pretty much get waved through. Lots of people at St. Peter’s at 7 AM. The Archbishop in charge of the event was the celebrant, a Bishop from Tanzania whom I had met walking over was a vested concelebrant, and there were perhaps ten concelebrants – and if any of them spoke English I never discovered it. Thank heavens I speak French! Came back to the residence for a late and fast breakfast and then over for the meeting.

There are (I learned) some 300 attending, from 45 countries and 5 continents. I STILL am not sure how I got invited to this. Simultaneous translation in English, Italian, French and Spanish. (I think they assume that Germans speak English.) There is a room off to one side where they have coffee for the coffee breaks and light (ie small) sandwiches for lunch. Don’t come hungry. At the coffee break there was one woman pouring the coffee and adding milk as you wanted and making tea – for 300 people! I had bottled water.

The sessions today were heavily focused on science – treating blindness, curing blindness, preventing blindness. Some interesting moments, but God forgive me, I did get some other work done along the way. During the lunch break I got the password for the wifi, so the day was not a total loss.

In the opening remarks, the Chairman stressed the importance of the human person, which was an encouraging way to start. Some of the later references to “the blind” made me cringe a little. I understand the approach to the spirituality of suffering – but to assume that a blind man is “suffering” because he is blind is a tad off-putting. Now, in the global context, 90% of the blind and people with low vision in the world are in 3^rd world countries. (I guess we’re supposed to call them “developing countries” now – but they’re in the south and they are poor. And in many cases they ARE suffering.) We were flooded with data and statistics – 35 countries are listed as being low income, and they represent 18% of all countries, and 12% of the global population. That means average annual income of $1,005 or less. The blind and visually impaired population in the US increased from 2004 to 2010. In America there are 3.5 .million blind, and 25,600,000 with low vision. 160 million blind/vi in the world. 5 million blind children live in poverty.

We saw slides of eye diseases in progress, heard about the works of Lions and other groups, river blindness is 99% finished, and cataracts are being successfully treated in poor rural areas.

In Mantua there is a museum with one hall of exhibits dedicated to the blind, and two paintings with blind sensory overlays were on exhibit (see pictures), so the sighted can see the picture but the blind can touch it and get a sense of it. 

On the left, the picture as a sighted person would see it. Below, you can see the 3-dimensional version created so the blind can touch and get a sense of the total composition.














There are blind people present – the agenda is in braille, and the chair for one of the sessions was a blind man. But I only saw one or two canes – all the other blind present had guides who led them around, including the musicians who played a concert at the end of the day.

The vice-president of an Italian blind group
made several interventions from the floor. 

The woman translating into English is very good – the man misses a lot, since I am listening to the Italian in one ear and the English in the other and I don’t always know WHAT he is missing, but I do know that he editing and condensing and letting some things pass. At the end of the first day, all the speakers had been in English or in Italian, even when their native language was something else. There is a congregation of blind nuns in Italy that was established in 1913. Apparently one of them is going to speak tomorrow.

At the end of the day a blind priest played piano, he and a blind violinist did a Mozart sonata, and then another blind pianist, a young man, and a sax/clarinet player took on some jazz standards. Not bad. I stayed for three of those numbers and then split, since I wanted to do some work and I had a dinner date with a friend who has a theatre company here in Rome, and her husband. They were going to take me to the Yacht Club.

So I showered and put on a coat and tie and was out front by around 8:45 for a 9 PM Pick up. The RAI (the Italian radio and television network) had big trucks in front of our building and all around the corner – no idea what is/was going on, but it involved a lot of technical people and equipment) I waited – and a car pulled up. I opened the back door – and found two very surprised young ladies. Seems they were picking up a friend who had been waiting across the street. I explained, and they drove off. Seemed a little nervous.

I waited and waited – and of course, since my phone didn’t work (thank you yet again, AT&T) there was no way to contact me. Finally – after about 45 minutes – I went inside to see if there were any messages. (Last time I was here she had had to wait for me, so I didn’t get too worried at first.) Yup – apparently while I was on one side of the RAI truck – on the street side, so I would be easy to spot – my friend had gone into the building looking for me. Sigh. By the time we connected it was too late for me to head out. Early alarm, and Saturday is the day I deliver the paper, which is the reason I came on this trip. So – having skipped lunch since I knew I would be going out, and having missed dinner – I went to bed. Rats.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS ALONG THE WAY

The man next door is a world class snorer.

If you are not careful trying to shave the little hairs along your ears, you can bleed really easily.

Rome is a noisier city than New York.

Second Day

I am waking up before the alarm, which is efficient but I could really use the extra sleep. Breakfast was lovely – two helpings of bread and cold cuts and a large bowl of cereal and then on to the location. Settled in. Observation – each session there are fewer people. Another observation – people don’t pay attention to the time they have been given. I worked hard to make sure my submission was within the time limit. The Bishop from Lima who came after me went 23 minutes, with a LONG film. The nun who followed him went 20. Sheesh.

I note – in all humility, of course- that mine was the only presentation that was interrupted by applause. Too bad there were not more people to hear it. Ah well – we do what we can. Got a nice formal TY note and a coin in a blue velvet box as a TY gift. I should have had coins made for the Xavier departing staff. Might still be a notion – if I can work up a design and call my friend who did the lapel pin, might be a good TY gift to have on hand, and something to send even after they have left.

I have had few opportunities to pass out brochures and I did not find a present for a friend who has a 70^th birthday coming up either – I found a lovely little mosaic that would have been perfect, until I discovered it was Euro 6,300. Tell me I don’t have good taste. I did get two homilies written during the morning session. Tried reading Italian braille and had NO idea of what was going on. Found a couple of numbers, but that was about it.

The folks in yesterday’s sessions were pretty good about keeping to time. We ran late but that’s because we started late, and the break and lunch sessions ran overtime. Today – at the end of the meeting there were recommendations for the bishops conferences and I was tempted to suggest that more emphasis be placed on teaching arithmetic, because apparently a lot of people associated with  church have trouble telling time. Or counting. Yeah, I  know I mentioned it above but it kept up, and the chair did not do anything about it. One of several suggestions I will make when I am safely out of the country. But I did get more work done, including two birthday posters for members of the community who celebrate their natal feasts later this month. One of my house jobs is doing the birthday posters.

The chair did say there is another conference in November, a 3-day version that will end with a private audience with the Holy Father. He also said we were all invited. If that invitation comes with another plane ticket, I think I’ll go. I also found out that many of the speakers had not, as requested, sent in their texts in advance, so the poor translators were struggling not only with the text but with the accents of the speakers, several of whom spoke in languages not their first.

When all the dust settled back to the room, took a nap for an hour, dinner and packed almost everything and bed. The bus is supposed to pick me up at 6 AM (please be ready 15 minutes before your scheduled departure time) so I want to be ready for a quick departure, ie get as much sleep as I can. Dinner was a lovely surprise – a farina soup, which was lukewarm but tasty. On the buffet there was a dish of livers, kidneys and hearts and it was wonderful! Potatoes and peas accompanied that and some nice bread on the table and wine – and then the little nun who was serving brought veal and a green vegetable whose name escapes me – like spinach but bitter. Cheese and an apple for dessert and I was a happy person.

Up early (there’s that waking up before the alarm goes off thing again) and a lovely shower, finished packing, did some online things and it was time to go down and wait for the bus. I had gone up to the roof in the early dawn to take a couple of pictures, and being on the almost empty street as the light eased in and the street came to life was a lovely moment. And two. And three. 

                  From the roof in the early morning hours



















As I was starting to wonder if this was going to be a repeat of the Yacht Club misadventure, the little van came along. The driver spoke quite good English, and stopped crossing via del Concilliacione so the other passengers, a couple from Australia, could take a picture of St. Peter’s with virtually no traffic on the street. They were on their way to Morocco as part of a 5 month wander around the world. Must be nice. The several processes at the airport certainly provide work for the people, although how effective anything is might be questioned. There was a preliminary security check, and then check-in. I had a machine print my boarding pass and decided to carry the bag on rather than checking it in. Then security, which was actually fairly gentle, although they wanted the cell phone out with the notebook. While in the waiting area, polizea came around randomly checking passports, and there was a secondary check on the ramp into the aircraft.

United Airlines. We’re all in the waiting area, and there is the standard announcement that we will be boarding by groups, which is fairly standard procedure, and everyone is ready for that. The usual suspects are standing poised to get on line, blocking others who have lower group numbers and the staff does nothing about that. Group 1 is announced and boards. Then group 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 – all at once. So of course, it is a stampede. They were running late, and someone decided to just get everyone on. I suspect that made us run later, but it did serve to annoy whole groups at once.

On the plane. Not the same modifications as coming over, so it’s an old entertainment system and the audio drops out of the classical channel, ups the volume by about six points and reverts to the rock station, the video is so grainy and line filled it is unwatchable, and like the video, it drops, so there is no point in even trying to get involved in a movie. 9 hours with no reliable video and a dicey audio system. And of course, the response of the flight attendant is that there is nothing THEY can do, it’s not a problem great enough to warrant cancelling the flight (which no one had suggested). Basically tough luck, suck it up nothing you can do about it. Anybody want some Continental air miles, because it will be a cold day in hell before I step foot on another United flight.

The pasta at lunch was surprisingly good, especially since I was not prepared to enjoy ANYTHING. The young girl across the aisle sneezed and turned her head so she sneezed into the aisle – right in my direction. After the third time, I called her on it, and I’m sure she has me pegged as a nasty old man. I did get some writing done, and on my notebook I discovered a cd someone had sent me of a radio interview with Al Jolson, during which he sang 9 songs and talked a lot about the movie The Jolson Story and something about the songs and stories about when he was working. Fascinating stuff.

We landed and disembarked and spent the next one hour waiting in line to get through Immigration. ONE HOUR!!! I had decided not to check my bag, so I sailed through Customs – well, ten minute sin line, but that hardly counted after Immigration – and on to the bus for New York. Which dropped me at Bryant Park, walked a block and got the Madison Avenue bus and home sweet (isn’t it nice to be back?) home. I unpacked – read mail – had dinner with the community, and stayed awake so I would be back on what passes in my life for a regular schedule – and blessed bed.

Looking back, I am struck at how much I continue to like Rome, an attraction which began with my first visit as a student in 1965. I think I would like the Holy Father, if we ever had a chance to sit and chat over a beer. And I was certainly impressed at the dedication of the many people involved in the conference. It was a very good, albeit tiring, week. I am glad I went – I am glad I am back.

And that’s all I have to say about that.