My second attempt...

Hello again! I'll try not to post this one twice...anyway, where was I? My family had made it inside the general audience hall and I had just met back up with them. The mood inside was one of excitement and anticipation. It was not hard to point out the Brazilian pilgrims as they were by far the loudest and most enthusiastic. Every one of them was waving and/or wrapped in the Brazilian flag, wearing a Brazilian flag baseball hat, and chanting in Portuguese at the top of their lungs. The most common chant was something along the lines of "Benedict...we love you!" They were so full of joy and love for the new Pope! Everyone else in the room had the same feeling, but the rest of us were just not so vocal about it! I couldn't stop smiling! As we waited, several Cardinals came onto the stage and told the crowd that the Pope would be speaking on Psalm 124. This brief announcement took up quite a bit of time because it had to be said in so many languages. There were a few false alarms which apparently were started by over-anxious people who screamed and cheered for the Pope at the slightest movement of the curtain he was going to come through. Finally as the German cardinal finished his announcement, the lights came up, the curtains opened, an organist began to play, and Pope Benedict XVI began to make his way down the center aisle. We unfortunately did not arrive early enough to get aisle seats, so instead we watched the huge screen at the front of the hall as the Pope walked toward the stage, touching and blessing the people with outstretched arms. When he reached the front, flanked by Swiss Guard and other members of security, he smiled and waved to the crowds before taking his seat. A trio (one woman and two men) on the left-hand side the stage sang a beautiful opening song. Everybody was standing on their chairs,trying to take pictures of the Pope, but before long a nun came by and asked everyone to sit down. Eventually the cheering died down so that the Pope could speak. He actually opened by chanting in Latin and then sat down. The details are already a little hazy, but I think he read in Italian first. Something I will never forget, however, is the smile on his face as the Italian people erupted in cheers as he greeted them in their language first! After Italian came French. Next came English. Psalm 124 compares people who trust in the Lord to Mount Sion, saying that they cannot be shaken. After English, the Pope spoke in his native German language! Then Spanish and Portuguese. Each time before the Pope started a new language, a Cardinal would first read off the names of the pilgrim groups who were present from that country. After their name was read, each group had the chance to show their support for the Pope. The Portuguese/Spanish-speaking groups chanted, a choir (from Pittsburg I think...) sang something beautiful, and a group from Beijing had some prepared synchronized arm swaying. Interestingly enough, the majority of the english-speakers were Asian pilgrims, including but not limited to an entire group of priests from Hong Kong. Anyway, when the Pope had gotten through speaking in all of the languages, he blessed everyone in the audience and closed with more Latin chant. As soon as he was finished, people began to file out. My family took the opportunity to move closer to the stage. When we stopped, we were only about 50 feet from the Pope! We watched on the screen as each cardinal kissed the Pope's ring and then spoke with him for a moment. When it came time for the Pope to walk off of the stage, we were actually standing at the center aisle, but unfortunately he did not exit the same way he came in. Instead, he walked through a door on the left-side of the stage. Oh well. The whole experience made me so happy. If possible, I am now even more excted about the fact that Sean, Selina and I will get to see him a second time in only a few weeks when he says Mass at World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany! There is so much I could write, but I think this is long enough and I am once again running out of internet credit. What I wouldn't give for some free internet access!