Our Italian Adventure

Sometimes, events occur which completely disrupts a traveller’s plan. In 2019, just a month before our European vacation which was to start in Paris, the devastating fire occurred at the Norte Dame Cathedral. For our Italian trip, the plan-altering event was the death of Pope Francis on April 21st, 2025, about two weeks before our arrival in Rome. Although we would barely miss the funeral, we would be there for the enclave to elect a new pope. This meant no visit to the Sistine Chapel. Months before, while planning our Vatican day, we had decided to skip the Vatican Museums. The Vatican Museum is a completely different entrance and experience than simply visiting St. Peter’s Basilica and St Peter’s Square. For one, there is a cost for the Vatican Museums and most of the people doing the Vatican Museums are part of a tour group which then also includes the Sistine Chapel. After a while, I started to identify my favorite Italy travel bloggers. Many of my favorite bloggers recommended skipping the Vatican Museums. The museums are normally very crowded, and many people describe the experience as being herded like cattle through an endless array of treasures that the Church has collected over the years. By skipping the Museums, I figured this would allow us to spend more time around the Square and in St Peter’s Basilica.

On the day we arrived in Rome, the enclave met to vote once in the afternoon. There were many rumours about who the next Pope might be and there was an electricity in the air around Rome. However, to no one’s surprise, black smoke appeared at 9pm. On that date, prior to the first vote, Vatican insiders listed their top five candidates. This list didn’t include Robert Prevost of the United States. The next day, on May 8th, the 131 voting Cardinals met once again in the Sistine Chapel. In rapid sucession, there were two votes in the morning with the first occuring on 1030am and the second occuring at 1151am. What were the Misener’s doing on the morning of May 8th?

Since the experts had all strongly suggested arriving at St Peter’s Basilica when it opens, we had already planned on arriving at 645am for the published opening of 7am. Watching Youtube videos, the Square is almost always deserted at this time. Yea, but that was without a historic enclave occuring. When we arrived, there was a media center on a platform set up. Security and armed troops were everywhere and the line for general unpaid entrance was already very long. Not to worry. About a month before our arrival, the Vatican decided to make more money and gave traveller’s an option to pay for a priority entrance into St Peter’s. This was very cheap and since most people had not heard of this option, I decided to pay for the priority entrance. So we went to the priority area where only a few persons were waiting. However, it was bedlam in the general area. Many people were claiming to have Church connections and were begging to be let in. They were told to wait by us. 7am came and went and still no signs of security allowing anyone inside. In retrospect, I have no doubt they were waiting until all of the Cardinals and support staffs were safely where they needed to be. Only then would they let the throngs of onlookers and tourists inside. Finally, they let a group of about 50 people inside. They didn’t look like tourists, but they seem to have come from where the general line was at. Shoot, were they going to let all of the general non-paying public inside before the priority line people. About 10 minutes later, they suddenly ushered our area inside the security lines. When we entered St Peter’s Basilica, it was pretty deserted, so I believe we were among the first tourists inside.

The Basilica was absolutely massive and beautiful with over-the-top decorations, adorning every inch of the church. We took our time enjoying the High Altar in relatively peace and quiet. Quickly, the Basilica was filling up with tourists. It is huge, so it can take a lot of people. Little did we know that while inside, the enclave was meeting and about to vote for the second time. 2025 is a Jubilee Year for the Catholic Church. This happens every 25 years and it’s a big deal for the faithful. One tradition are the opening of the four holy doors in four different Basilicas in Rome. Tradition has it that if one goes thru all four holy doors in one day, atonement for all of their sins will occur. Well, we decided to only receive atonement for 1/4 of our sins. These holy doors are sealed at the end of the Jubilee Year. That doesn’t mean, they simply lock the doors. They actually encase the doors so they are not even visible until the next Jubilee. Walking thru the Holy Door was pretty cool.

After exiting the Basilica, we checked out the immense St Peter’s Square. This country in a city is truly amazing. We noticed several Roman citizens already setting up their spots near the Basilica in the Square hoping they would see the election of a new pope. As we left the Square and had breakfast, we didn’t know it, but the Cardinals voted for the second time of the enclave. It was 1030am and no smoke appeared. Apparently, smoke is not always used after each vote.

We eventually made it over to Castel Sant’Angelo which is a majestic castle built during Emperor’s Hadrian’s rule as a mausoleum for his family. Over time, the castle was used as a fortress. While it was first built in 134AD, much of it was destroyed in 410AD, when the Visgoths sacked Rome. The Popes converted the structure into a castle during the 14th century. It has also been used as a prison where executions occurred in the courtyard.

We probably arrived shortly before 11am. As we made our way thru the fortress, we stopped at a cafe at the 2nd highest point of the castle. As we enjoyed our cappuchinos, we heard the first announcement that the Terrace would be closed from 1145am to 1215pm. Since that was the highest point of the castle and offered great views of the surrounding area, we quickly made our way to the top for some magnificient views of Rome and St Peter’s Basilica. Twice more, they announced the closing of the Terrace and it suddenly struck me. They knew when the next enclave voting was and they didn’t want the Terrace to become a circus in case the voting became a drawn out event. We quickly headed back down to the Cafe area which also had some great viewing openings. We arrived at this area around 1145am. We were quickly joined by a handful of other tourists who also figured out the meaning of the Terrace closure. Sure enough, at 1151am, people gasped, and we could see the black smoke billowing out of the Sistine Chapel. No pope was elected, but we got to see history.

I believe we were at dinner that night, when we heard the news about Prevost from Chicago being elected as the first Pope ever from North America. We missed being in the square while the onlookers shouted, “Havemus papam!” or “We have a pope.”

Fun Fact: A secret passageway was built between the Vatican and Castel Sant’Angleo. On more than one occasion, the Pope and associated parties was able to escape invaders from other countries through this secret passageway.