Audience with the Pope

You don't get an invitation for an audience with the Pope every day and you don't have to be Catholic to like it. When the members of the foreign press association in Rome – for the first time in 40 years – received such an offer, I didn't have to hesitate. And so on Saturday, May 18, at 10 a.m., under the colonnade of Bernini in front of Saint Peter, I found myself waiting in front of the Portone di Bronzo, the large bronze door that gives access to the Palazzo Apostolico, the papal palace.

It was a private papal audience, but the word 'private' should not be taken too literally. The Pope gives an 'ordinary' audience every Wednesday morning when he is in Rome. In the summer this happens on Saint Peter's Square, which is then filled with chairs, and in the cooler seasons in the Sala Nervi within the Vatican walls.

Happening en masse

This is quite a massive event, in which an average of 20.000 believers and interested parties took part each time in recent years. The 'private meetings' are more intimate, but often also for large groups. Ours was about 400 strong from 54 countries, including all Dutch correspondents, also because many colleagues had taken the opportunity to join family members. I had also thrown a ball to my wife, but she thanked me for the honour. She was born and raised Roman and has therefore seen more fathers and popes than she likes, so I didn't insist.

Dress Code

There we stood, sheltering for over an hour from incessant torrential rain (it is now certain that this is the worst May weather in Rome ever) next to the impressive columns and directly opposite the men's toilets, as we were told. The dress code was rigid—gentlemen in black with ties, ladies in modest suits without bright colors—so that our group was a bit like a gravedigger outing or a Blues Brothers reunion.

No hand cushion and bends

Finally the time had come and we could go through the metal detector and the Bronze Gate, past the Swiss guards, to end up in those impressive densely painted corridors and stairwells that you otherwise never get to see. Destination was the Sala Clementina, one under Pope Clement VIII at the end of the 16th century^e century, landscaped grand reception room with beautiful frescoes by, among others, the Flemish Paul Bril.

Once we arrived, a staff member of the ceremony kindly advised us that after the Pope's speech we could shake hands with him, but that kisses and bows would not be appreciated. In it you will find something of the Franciscan spirit, from which this Pope derived his name.

A little while longer and then he entered, accompanied by the prefect of the Casa Pontificia, the papal household, Mons. Georg Gänswein (also known as because of his good looks) il Bel Giorgio, or Beautiful Sjors) and the personal secretary, Mons. Fabian Pedacchio Leaniz. After a short introductory speech by the president of the press association - in which she discussed the attacks on the independent press by politicians, hate mongers and internet bots - it was Pope Francis himself.

Fake news

He read a speech in which he called on his audience to remain critical, also with regard to abuses in the church itself, and to fight against fake news, over-easy answers, and violent and hostile language. "Don't become a megaphone of the strongest!" he told us and journalists like to hear that.

There was another very topical reference to the 'Mediterranean turned into a graveyard', which came across as an indirect attack on Deputy Prime Minister Salvini. He immediately reacted to this from the Duomo Square in Milan, where he concluded his European election campaign in the afternoon, with the comment that the Pope could say that, but that thanks to him no more refugees are drowning.

Fair

Finally, there was the handshake ceremony. That is actually a kind of fair with the Holy Father as the main attraction. Four hundred hands and still keep a friendly look at them, I'll give you something to do! Everyone should therefore say something nice and when it was my turn I knew nothing better than 'Santita, grazie delle Sue belle parole' (Holiness, thank you for your nice words). Not very original, but at least I had the satisfaction of being able to address an interlocutor with 'Holiness': some things you have to do once in your life.

Photo to order online

The Pope replied kindly and looking at six-thirty'Grazie a Lei' (Thank you too), and that's it. The scene has been filmed and if I want to, I can order the photo taken by the Vatican court photographer online. For a fee, yes. Then it was time for a tavern in the Borgo, the adjacent working-class district, with an old-fashioned carbonara. A winter dish, because the weather in Rome is still not a blessing.

Here is the video of the audience with the Pope: