"Artsy" Photos from Rome (Rome, IT)

I enjoyed a very relaxing day in bella Roma.  I spent the morning taking "artsy" photos, which I am attaching to this posting.  In the afternoon, I had lunch with Father Charles Lasrado, SJ, who is the Assistant General Treasurer of the Society of Jesus, at the Jesuit Curia, in other words, worldwide headquarters.  We were joined at our table by Fathers Jim Grummer, SJ, Ken Gavin, SJ, and Jesse Rodriquez, SJ.  It was delightful to among my own, since I am the only Jesuit among all of the sabbatical priests at the North American College.  On my way to the Curia, I passed St. Peter's Square and saw the Pope in the distance greeting people after his General Audience.  Francis I was out of the Popemobile and in the crowd shaking hands and greeting people, up close and personal.  It was Youth Day, so most of the crowd were youngsters and young people.

I took photos while I was at the Jesuit Curia and in Saint Peter's Square.  I will post those photos tomorrow, so stayed tuned!

The colorful tables were at this ice cream store.

At the Piazza Navona.

Can you guess what this police officer is doing?  He is scratching a lottery ticket which he just purchased in the tobacco shop behind him.

A sure sign of Spring!

All right!  Enough already with the pansy photos!!

Photos on a Rainy Day (Rome, IT)

It has been a rainy day in Rome, so I decided to stay close to home.  The only photos I have to offer were taken by 2 of the sabbatical priests.  The photo above was taken on the day of the Pope's Inaugural Mass.  [He only just emailed it to me today.]  We were waiting for the Mass to begin when he took the photo.  The other photo was taken on an IPad.  It is a group photo of all of us, which was taken yesterday at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.  It is fuzzy, but it is the best resolution I can get.  You can find me somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Photos of la dolce vita (Rome, IT)

I am attaching to this posting the remaining photos I took on my walk-about of last Saturday.  The photo above is of the American Embassy on the Via Veneto.

It is now early Monday afternoon.  We just returned from a private tour of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.  The tour was conducted by Monsignor Paul McInerney of the Archdiocese of Boston, who is now a Canon of the basilica in addition to being the Secretary of Cardinal Law, both of whom now reside at the apartments attached to the basilica.  We began the day with a Mass at the basilica in the chapel of the Madonna, at which we were all vested concelebrants.  It is that chapel which Pope Francis I visited after he was elected Pope.  The tour also included entrance to the Sistine Chapel of the basilica and the altar at which St. Ignatius of Loyola celebrated Mass when he arrived in Rome.  Yes, it is also called the Sistine Chapel because it was built by Pope Sixtus [a different Pope Sixtus than the one who built the Sistine Chapel of St. Peter's Basilica].  We also visited the crypt of the basilica where the Borghese family, including two Boghese popes, Paul V and Clement VIII, are buried.  Ordinarily, the crypt is not open to the public, nor is the Sistine Chapel of the basilica.  There was an obvious advantage to having one of the Canons of the basilica as our tour guide.

Now back to the photos.  They were taken at the end of the day on Saturday.  There are a couple of interesting ones.  I was at the Piazza della Repubblica because I wanted to visit the Basilica of Santa Maria Angeli and the Roman ruins of Diocletian.  I was unable to get into the area because of what I thought was a state funeral of some notable Italian politician or member of the military.  It turned out to be the funeral of an Italian soccer star.  There was a military band, a phalanx of police and members of the military, a brigade of media, and tons of funeral wreaths which you will see in the background of one of the photos.  It seems that soccer stars are revered in Italy as national heroes.  Whoever this was, he received full military honors at his death.  

The other photos which are attached were taken as I approached the end of my walk, including a pass by of the American Embassy, and yes, another church.

The funeral wreaths are lining the wall of the basilica.

A fountain at the Piazza della Repubblica and spectators at the funeral.

All of this for a soccer star!