Day 4 - The Papal Address

It was a 6.00am alarm call & then down to breakfast for 6.50am.

By 7.30am we had checked out of the hotel & we were rushing to the Metro Station to return to the Vatican City. We had an issue with the ticket machines not working for us, but the guard showed us that we could use our credit cards on the swipe machine at the barrier. We heard a train arrive so we rushed down the escalator & jumped on the train.

We needed to be on Train A route, but I realised that we had blindly jumped on the Train route. At the 1st stop we changed & went back to our starting point. From the Termini it was 6 stops to the Ottaviano stop which took just 13 minutes.

After a shortish queue at the security checkpoint we were through & sat down in our chosen seats at 8.30am for a 9.00am start. However at 8.40am, some flag waving jesters appeared on the steps for a short show.

At 8.45am, Pope Francis appeared in his Popemobile & whizzed about among crowds. He stopped for the obligatory hold a baby photo. He also stopped fairly near to us allowing me to get some photos. It was quite surprising how accessible he was considering there had very limited security checks & a metal detector arch, that security put any positive beeps down to belts & watches.

At 9.00am, Pope Francis addressed the audience in Latin, but guest speakers from around the world also gave speeches in their own languages including an American lady. It was clear that the audience had travelled from all parts of the globe, notably Brazil, USA & Poland. The audience were generally very enthusiastic, however we had to put up with an annoying child who wanted to make a lot of noise & parents almost encouraging him, as well as a woman behind who took several phone calls during the address.

Pope Francis Facts

1. Pope Francis is 86 years old. He was born on December 17, 1936.

2. He was born in Bueno Aires, Argentina.

3. He first became a priest in 1969 but did not become Pope until 2013.

4. No other Pope in Catholic history has had the name Francis, and he is also the first Jesuit to be elected as Pope.

5. The world knows him as Francis, but his real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He chose the name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, a Catholic friar born in 12th century Italy.

6. In his pre-priest days, Pope Francis used to enjoy dancing the tango with his then-girlfriend.

7. While some may think he studied Theology, Pope Francis actually studied for a Master’s Degree in Chemistry and used to teach the subject in high schools.

8. Back in Buenos Aires, he worked as a bouncer in a bar – a far cry from the Vatican!

9. At the time of his election, medical professionals were worried about the health of Pope Francis. The missing lung which caused their concern was removed way back when he was a teen, but he is in very good health now.

10. His Holiness isn’t one to sit back and get waited on hand and foot, choosing rather to cook his own meals. He’s a big fan of cooking, and rumor has it that one of his specialty dishes is paella.

11. Pope Francis certainly isn’t new to the papal world. When Pope Benedict XVI won the election in 2005, Pope Francis was a runner-up.

12. As loving and caring as he seems, we’re not entirely sure about his stance on the issue of gay marriage. In 2001, he visited AIDS patients, going so far as to wash and kiss their feet. However, he has openly stated that gay marriage isn’t included in ‘God’s plan’, and caused a bit of uproar in 2015 when he allegedly had a secret meeting with Kim Davis, a Kentucky clerk who was jailed for refusing to marry same-sex couples.

13. Pope Francis likes to keep up with the modern world, and tweets to over 7 million Twitter followers on a regular basis. For the Francis fans out there, you can follow him @Pontifex and receive his words of wisdom on your Twitter homepage.

14. The papal leader speaks fluent Spanish, Italian and Latin, and doesn’t struggle too much with English, German, Ukrainian, French and Portuguese either. A man of many talents (or should we say languages?)!

15. Pope Francis wouldn’t say no to a game of football, since he’s quite a fan of the sport. He still supports the San Lorenzo football team from his hometown in Argentina. He has also been gifted many football shirts, and now has rather a large collection.

16. The Bible isn’t the only book he enjoys delving into. In fact, he has read The Lord of the Rings and various other books by J. R. R. Tolkien.

17. He is currently a citizen of three different countries; Argentina, Italy, and the Vatican.

18. Rather than bask in his newfound fame as the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis decided to live in a small guest house in the Vatican, rather than the traditional apartments in which previous leaders resided.

19. In 2013, the same year he was elected as Pope, he was named Time’s ‘Person of the Year’. He was chosen for this title because of the influence that he had already had in the short space of time as a leader.

20. Pope Francis has been given many extravagant gifts over the years, and one of them was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. However, rather than keeping it for his own pleasure and adventures, he sold it off and used the money to benefit homeless people. What a saint!

After 50 mins the Papal Address came to an end & we hurried out ahead of the crowds & walked down Corso Vittorio Emanuele ll to Largo di Torre Argentina

Largo di Torre Argentina was excavated during Mussolini’s rebuilding attempts in 1929 and consisted of four Republican victory temples located 20 feet below street level. Moreover, there is also part of the portico of Pompey, upon whose steps Julius Caesar was killed in 44 BCE.

After the site’s excavation, cats started moving to these ruins, and locals fed them. In 1993, Silvia Viviani and Lia Dequel founded the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary as most of the cats in Torre Argentina, have special needs. Here, some of them are missing legs, some are handicapped or just came from abusive homes.

Next we stopped at several churches looking for a loo, until Jackie finally gave up & popped into a cafe.

It was then onto The Altare della Patria, also known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II ("National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II"). The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele was inaugurated in 1911 as a tribute to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy after the country's unification.
Since 1921, the Victor Emmanuel Monument holds the tomb of the unknown soldier, a place in which the eternal flame shines and which is always guarded by two soldiers. M
The colossal monument, which is 135 meters wide and 70 meters high, is comprised of scores of majestic Corinthian columns and endless stairs, all carved in white marble. The top is crowned with an equestrian sculpture of Victor Emmanuel cast in bronze and two chariots driven by the goddess Victoria.

After climbing up & walking round it to admire the views, we moved next door & up the 124 steep steps to The Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, one of the most cherished churches by Rome’s inhabitants. The temple is also renowned because it houses the Santo Bambino of Aracoeli, a wooden figure of the Child Jesus, which is said to be miraculous. We probably saw it, but didn’t know we were looking for it!!

We were now more than just a bit thirsty, so we had a couple of late morning beers at a cafe opposite.

About an hour later, we dragged ourselves out of our chairs & headed up more steps to the Museum of Capitolina. Lots of impressive large statues & paintings.

1. The Capitoline She-wolf.
Legend has it that this she-wolf found the twins Romulus and Remus in the waters of the Tiber, near the Palatine Hill, and nursed them as if they were her own children. The statue of the "Capitoline She-wolf" dates from the 11th or 12th century and is made of bronze.

2. The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius.
During the Roman Empire, equestrian statues were very numerous in the city, but what makes the statue of Marcus Aurelius special is that it is the only equestrian statue from Antiquity that survived the Middle Ages. During this period, most of these works of art were melted down to mint coins with their bronze.
If the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius has survived to the present day, it is because he was mistaken for the Emperor Constantine I, who, through the Edict of Milan, stopped the persecution of Christians and gave freedom of worship in the Empire.

3. The Dying Galata.
Along with the previous ones, the statue of the Dying Gaul is one of the most popular in the Capitoline Museums, as it shows with great realism the pain of a Gaul defeated in combat by King Attalus I of Pergamon, who fights against death and refuses to give in to his fate.

4. The Capitoline Venus.
The Capitoline Venus is another of the most popular statues in the Capitoline Museums. It depicts the goddess Venus emerging from the bath naked and has been the subject of numerous replicas known as "Capitoline Venuses".

5. The head of the colossal statue of Constantine.
The remains of the colossal statue of Constantine were found in the Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum in the 15th century.

6. The Spinario.
This bronze sculpture from the 1st century BC & depicts a seated boy looking at the sole of his left foot to remove a thorn that has stuck him.

7. Bust of Medusa.
In Greek mythology, Medusa was a snake-haired woman who had the power to petrify anyone who dared to look her in the eye. This bust is a work by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the 17th century that represents the exact moment of the metamorphosis.

8. The Marforio.
A colossal marble sculpture dating from the 1st century AD, which originally adorned a Roman fountain from the Flavian period. It represents the personification of an ocean or a river and was found in the 16th century in the Forum of Augustus, next to the temple of Mars Ultor.

9. The Mosaic of the Doves.
This fantastic 2nd-century mosaic found in the Villa Adriana in Tivoli during the 18th century is believed to be a Hellenistic copy of the work Soso of Pergamon made to decorate the palace of King Eumenes II of Pergamon.

10. The Bonaventure of Caravaggio.
La Buenaventura, one of the first works by the painter Caravaggio, depicts a gypsy girl foretelling the future to a naive young man whose ring she steals from his hand, taking advantage of the fact that he is distracted by her smile.

An hour and a half later we emerged knackered & Jackie was quick to inform me she was all-statued out.

We started to head back towards the Termini but with still a few hours to kill I took in a few detours. We bought gelatos. Jackie ordered a combination including pistachio which she didn’t like because it tasted of marzipan. I swapped, but Jackie still wasn’t keen on mine.

We ate our gelato on the wall of Fontana dei Dioscuri, next to Obelisco del Quirinale in Piazza del Quirinale, then we trudged on to The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, another huge church!!

We walked round & out again & slowly conked out. We stopped at a bar for beer for an hour bevy returning to the Termini for gnocchi & pizza.

It was then the train & the flight home.

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