PAPAL CONCLAVE 2013

So as I'm sure many of you have seen, THE POPE WAS ELECTED YESTERDAY! And I was there to witness it all!!! So here's the low down from your inside source...

I had class until 5:30 pm, and the smoke was scheduled to arise around 7 pm. I wasn't really thinking about going, because I was expecting black smoke, but no matter which smoke it was I wanted to see some kind. Luckily, the metro stop I take to get back to my apartment is the same metro stop for the Vatican.  So I met one of my roommates at the stop and we headed over to St. Peter's Square.

We got there around 6:15 pm, and there were so many people! The normal entrance to the square wasn't open, so we had to go around through a crowd and some police officers. They had to check our bags which was pointless because they looked for like one second, and I had all my school stuff with me.

We made our way into the square, and there were a ton of people, but it wasn't all packed and crazy as you would imagine. It was raining and everyone had umbrellas, so it was a little violent with umbrellas hitting you everywhere. Even the nuns were pushing their way around.

Everyone and their umbrellas. 

There were people all over the world who had come to witness this event. So many different flags from each country. I saw an American flag, and a Filipino flag of course. There were actually a lot of Americans there than I realized.

We waited about 45 minutes, and at 7 pm there was still no smoke yet. I couldn't see the actual chimney, because I couldn't really get to the right side, so I watched the projection on the screen. Honestly I was just expecting to see black smoke, and then I would come back the next day. With everyone's umbrellas in the way I could barely even see the screen, then I start hearing gasps and cheers.I couldn't see, until my roommate told me the smoke was white! I started jumping to see it, and in fact it was!! Everyone was cheering and all of a sudden decided to all run forward towards St. Peter's. With that happening, I could finally see the actually chimney with the smoke coming out of it!

White smoke from the Sistine!

I could not believe it!! It was so unexpected! I don't know why but I got really excited, more excited than I expected to be. I would post a video I have, but it's literally me just saying "Oh my gosh!" about a hundred times. I was really excited. It was just so crazy to actually be there! It still hasn't really hit me.

After the excitement died down, we waited another 45 minutes or so for the new Pope to come out, since no one knew who was chosen. And it finally stopped raining, which was perfect. Then the Cardinal Camerlengo came out to announce "Habemus Papam!" we have a Pope! When he announced that he was from Argentina, everyone in the crowd was a little surprised.

Here's a little video from the announcement (sorry my camera was shaky):

All of the cardinals came out on the balconies, and then Pope Francesco came out!! More cheering and chanting "Papa Francesco"! Except the crowd wasn't as crazy as I expected. It wasn't like Angels and Demons. I think everyone was more excited when the white smoke came out than when the actual Pope came out.

Papa Francesco!

 I didn't understand what he was saying since he spoke in Italian, but during the prayer the whole crowd was completely silent. Literally the only sound you could hear was a car honk far in the distance. It was incredible being within thousands of people, and not one sound.

Pope and the Cardinals

He spoke for 15 or 20 more minutes, and then thanked the crowd, said goodnight, and went back inside. After that, it was a little chaotic trying to leave. Okay more like VERY chaotic. The only exit was the way we came in, which isn't very big for the thousands that filled the square. The sides were fenced off and people started jumping them to exit. That was basically our only way out so we moved to the fences with the crowd. It was literally body to body, slowly moving for people to jump over. The only thing I could compare it to was Titanic when people were trying to push through the gates or trying to jump off of the ship. It's a terrible thing to compare to, but that's literally how I felt.

Just part of the crowd.

After jumping the fence I thought I was home free. No. The usual entrance to the Vatican was blocked by police, so we had to get to another exit from the main wall. It was even worse body contact. I could probably just be held up by the people around me, since we were squished so tight. Just imagine the worse crowd you've ever been in, and multiply it times 100.

Finally when we got outside the wall I could breath and walk normally! Thank goodness I live walking distance from the Vatican, because we just took side streets to get back. And I'm positive the metro would have been deadly.

Walking back I was still in shock that I had just experienced this historic and holy event. In coming to Rome, I never would have thought to experience all of this! It is seriously such a blessing. And the fact that I got to learn all about the conclave in my class while witnessing it was just awesome. This was definitely a once in a lifetime experience, and one that I will never forget.

Papal Conclave March 13, 2013