Up, down, & around the Vatican

Time to showcase a few more photos, but first, a little info about our day.  Once again, we began our day with Mass at St. Peter's basilica.  This time we celebrated Mass at the Mater Ecclesiae altar (i.e. Mother of the Church).  Archbishop Jorge Patron Wong celebrated the Mass.  What a guy!  His joy is contagious.  He is the Archbishop whom we met the other day.  He heads the Congregation for Clergy.  After Mass, we enjoyed breakfast with him and two of his close collaborators.  These collaborators are originally from the United States.

A picture of the Archbishop which I took off the internet.  It beautifully captures his personality.

After lunch, we participated in the Scavi tour.  It is quite remarkable to see what was found in the excavation process under St. Peter's basilica- most prominently, of course, the bones of St. Peter.  Though seeing more closely the tomb of St. Peter was the main highlight, we also saw portions of ancient pagan burial sites.  Great tour but definitely not for people who are claustrophobic.  We prayed at St. Peter's tomb for the Pope, our dioceses, our families, our friends, and benefactors.

After the Scavi tour, we headed to the office for the Secretary of State.  The Secretary of State is basically the second in command at the Vatican.  He and his office handle diplomatic relations, among many other things.  For instance, the Secretary and his office will be assisting with President Obama's visit to the Vatican.  Though we did not meet with the Secretary, we were able to meet with one of the english-speaking officials.  We also met with the Monsignor who made possible the visit to the office.  The Monsignor is actually a friend of Monsignor Callaghan.  These officials answered many questions and gave us a wonderful tour, as you will see below.

Meeting at the office for the Secretary of State

This door leads to quarters where the Pope works during the day. (No, we did not try to get in.)

Nice panorama of St. Peter's Square from the terrace.

This Cardinal (whose name I forget - my apologies), shown in the middle of this photo, walked by to show another group the terrace.  We were told he was in charge of the last Conclave.  In other words, he was in charge of the process which elected Pope Francis.  Wow!  (For the reader's info, I imagined a conversation between me and the Cardinal, where he told me that he was in charge of the Conclave and I responded by saying, "I've been in charge of a concession stand at my high school hockey arena."  I am sure he would have been equally impressed - but in a different way.)

Fr. Juan Miguel looking over the terrace.  It appeared as though some group coming out of the basilica thought he was the Holy Father.  They were all of sudden gathering together and taking pictures in the vicinity of the terrace.  It was quite humorous.

This is simply a picture of your bloggers.  Deacon Grant, on the left, and me, Deacon Blake.

Hope you are also having an enjoyable day!