Some things do need to be seen to be believed.

Last Saturday I decided to finally take the plunge and go deal with the line at St. Peters. The line went all the way around the piazza but it took maybe only 30 minutes. I would have been satisfied with what I got to see though if I had had to wait even 8 hours in that line. When I got to the front of the basilica I decided to not immediately go into the church and I went to the Tomb of the Popes instead. To get to the entrance it passes you through the front entrance of the basilica and then down the right side outside of the church. You then enter into an underground passage filled with spolia on the walls that leads to the tombs themselves. The first few tombs were of some Popes I had never heard from hundreds of years ago but near the end of the "U" shape that the tombs are in was the tomb of John Paul II. People were being pushed through but there was still space for people who wanted to stay longer behind a rope. I decided to stay here for a few minutes and observe and the scene was very emotional. People would come up and cry and observe the great "Pilgrim" pope. He was known as the Pilgrim because while he was Pope he visted 129 countries. (John Paul II also knew 13 languages) He also was the second or third longest seated Pope behind Pope Pius IX and St. Peter himself although many historians dispute the length of St. Peters time as the Pope. After I saw John Paul's Tomb I continued around and saw the "altar" if I may call it that above the tomb of St. Peter. I have seen many gigantic churches in Rome but the altar and small accompanying church were very small especially for the tomb of St. Peter himself. It was almost the church for the elite within St. Peters and it was a very special place. After this the exit was very quick. The end of the "U" shape had much fewer tombs and seemed to show people the way out.
After the tombs I headed up to the church itself and was stunned. As this blog is titled, some things do need to be seen to be believed. The shock and awe of the splendor and shear size of this church is incredible. The ceiling seems so far away that it seems like the sky must be pulling it up and it is not supported by the ground. Some of the artwork (really all of it) is the stuff of all art history classes. I had forgotten that Michelangelo's Pieta was there and it was incredible to see for the first time. All in all the church is reason enough to come to Rome and the Vatican which doesn't count the other thousands of reasons a person should go to Rome. I am glad I took the time to visit the Vatican while I was here and I hope to do it many more times before I return home.
Until next week,