How To Get An Audience With The Pope

Behind the left hand colonnade (if you are facing the front facade of St. Peter's Basilica), you'll find the modern auditorium where the general audiences with the Pope are conducted. The great thing about this building is that the acoustics are fantastic AND it is air-conditioned. If you are there in summer, you'll be thankful for the reprieve from the heat. In the past, some audiences were held in St. Peter's Square (see the video below).

Above are a photo of the building that my husband took when he climbed the dome of the Basilica. Below it is a photo from a professional photographer tasked with taking photos of our audience. You can see the auditorium is pretty large and it was packed! I estimate that it holds about 5,000 people.

With all the international large groups, excited tourists, and faithful pilgrims, the auditorium fills up meaning the best places are occupied early. ARRIVE EARLY!! I'll say it again, get out of bed early and head straight to the auditorium. Even though the Pope doesn't enter until around 10:30 AM, you should get there at least a few hours in advance because security is very tight and a good seat makes the experience all that much better. Don't show up at 10 AM and expect to get a seat....you may end up in standing room only at the back of the auditorium.

Well I have to say that this was the one time in my life when being disabled actually paid off :) I have a nervous system condition that prevents me from standing for more than a few minutes. People in power scooters and wheel chairs get special front row, handicapped accessible seating so we were truly right in front of the Pope. It was amazing!

OK so my husband and I are escorted by an usher to our seats after we arrive at the auditorium and we are so excited to see that we have front row seats. Honestly, we didn't think it could get much better. Then about 10 minutes before the Pope came out on stage, one of the head ushers came by and told us to stick around after the audience concluded so that we could go up on stage. We were thinking OK - that sounds great, we'll get to see the audience and view of the entire building.

NOOOOO - he meant that he would be taking all of the disabled folks on stage to MEET the pope. When the usher came down after the audience had concluded to get the group of disabled people and rolled us up on stage while the Pope was handing out Papal Blessings to some Italian wedding couples holding hands (in their full tuxes and gowns), I was wondering what the heck was going on. Then, the disabled people in their wheelchairs were led one by one past the Pope's chair. Yep - that's right people. My husband and I got to kiss the hand of the Pope Benedict XVI. To this day, I can't really explain how surreal that moment is and was. Now that is one for the bucket list :)