My pilgrimage to Rome was a special Pilgrimage of Hope. As Pope Francis said: “hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring”.
When Pope Francis died about 3 weeks before our departure, we weren’t sure if the long-planned journey would go ahead. Due to the Conclave, our accommodation was used for some visiting cardinals, and the organisers had to find new places for us. Our bookings to the Vatican Museum didn’t necessarily include a visit to the Sistine Chapel anymore. How long would the Conclave take? Nobody knew. Speculations and hopes were filling the gap of uncertainty.
Two days after the election of Pope Leo XIV, we were on our way to the Eternal City.
The atmosphere was very special. The city was filled with pilgrims who had come from all over the world, representing all ages, languages, and cultures – I thought of St. Paul’s mission, but also of the ancient investiture of a pope that was used in the 11th and 12th centuries, which included the words “that thou rule over the city and the world”. It seemed like the world had come to the Vatican.
A change of pope in the Year of Hope. Pope Francis seemed to have prepared the way for the future.
In Vatican City I happened to meet a few US-American sisters in their full habits. They were excited about the new pope being American, even though it seemed that they didn’t know much more about him other than being American.
When I looked at these young US sisters in habits, I had to think of a radio interview that I recorded with an older New Zealand sister some years ago. She told me that, when she was a young sister in the early 1970s, she visited the USA. While she, as a New Zealand sister, was wearing a habit, she was surprised that the American sisters she visited were no longer wearing habits. It wasn’t long until the New Zealand branch of sisters also changed to wearing lay women’s clothes.
The older sister told me that her work became much easier when she could work among the poor and vulnerable without standing out as a religious sister.
Have we been moving backwards?
Pope Leo XIV has gone back to wearing some traditional papal attire. This worries some people, but I believe we need to allow him to follow his own style – as long as he doesn’t declare himself as the absolute monarch over the whole world.
One place on the journey that was very much connected to the person of the pope was Castel Gandolfo. Some popes loved the place, and when I saw the surroundings, I understood why Pope Benedict XVI was one of them. He must have felt at home overlooking Lake Albanese which could easily be compared to the beautiful Bavarian lakes.
Pope Francis didn’t seem to connect to this landscape. He was at home in a huge city, and so he never spent a night at Castel Gandolfo.
The tour guide in Castel Gandolfo told us that they didn’t know if tours would still be possible with a new pope – the use of this quiet Papal Summer Residence depends on the person of the pope, not on his ministry.
BM
