St Peter’s & Sant’Angelo

At the Vatican, I eagerly waited for Martina to complete her final day of the Via Francigena, an Italian pilgrimage to Rome which she started over a month ago at the Swiss border. She arrived at about 1 pm after walking the final 11 miles this morning. I was happy to be the welcoming committee for someone in the way that Andrew and others were there for me in Santiago. Martina finished the camino in Spain about a week before me. She had returned to Germany but got the urge to walk again and chose the way of Saint Francis, so she headed to Italy. We are going to travel together for the next week. Something new to the Vatican since I was here last — the sculpture Angels Unawares has a prominent place in the Square and is the first addition to St. Peter’s since Bernini. It is an emotional piece. It includes the faces of migrants and refugees from all over the world. Pope Francis dedicated it in 2019 saying that he wanted the sculpture “to remind everyone of the evangelical challenge of hospitality.” In the spirit of hospitality, I welcomed Martina with a big hug, a bottle of water, and two small gifts as rewards for finishing the pilgrimage and walking into St Peter’s.Read more