My Exciting Audience with Pope Benedict XVI

When Pope John Paul II came to India in 1986, I was only a high school student and had not yet joined the seminary. But my memory is still fresh with all the excitement of meeting Pope John Paul II on November 20, 2000, in my first visit to the Eternal City. At the time, I was the parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish, Port Huron, Michigan and was also taking care of the small Malankara Catholic Community in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Since it was the Great Jubilee year, the representatives of the Malankara Catholic Church came to Rome to celebrate the jubilee with Pope John Paul II. I was fortunate to be able to join them in celebrating the jubilee. Among many other things, the audience with John Paul II was one of the highlights of the celebration. Since there were nearly three hundred people in the group, the audience was held in a special hall connected to St. Peter’s Church. We were able to arrive early and be seated, but I was not happy about getting a seat at the back of the hall, but a fellow priest who was sitting in the front row exchanged his seat for mine after he shook hands with the Pope. The security personnel in the hall were not happy with us and did not allow us to move again.  

When the Pope was about to leave, a member of the security came and asked me to move to an adjacent room. I immediately thought that I was in trouble for moving around and therefore was disappointed thinking that I might not get a chance to see the Pope again. The priests from another college in Rome were meeting the Pope in that room. They were also part of our group, and the guard thought I was a student of that college. The single chair in that room was also an indication to me that the Pope would be sitting there.

I stood next to the chair, and there were nearly twenty priests gathered around. I had several pictures taken with the Pope, though the college had to delete my picture since I was not a student there.  In the long run, who cares about them deleting my picture or my creating trouble for them - I had the oppertunity to be with the Pope! I couldn’t sleep that night because of all the excitement of that day!

Nothing dramatic happened when I had the audience with Pope Benedict. The Popes traditionally meet the priests of the diocese of Rome the Thursday after Ash Wednesday. Since I won’t have an opportunity to meet him when our bishops come at the end of this month for the ad limina visit, I decided to take my chance now. Each bishop can take one priest and first oppertunities go to those who are leaving soon after finishing the studies. There are not many other occasions where you get a chance to meet the pope except for the Wednesday audiences. That is also an audience with the entire group, and the Pope doesn’t normally go around to shake hands with each of the attendees.  

I went early with my friends to stand in line so that we could get into the audience hall. There were already five hundred priests ahead of us and even more came after us. Everyone was excited and some were nervous as to whether they would really get a chance to see the Pope even after all this trouble.  Our opportunity also depended on the schedule and health of the Pope. As soon as the doors were opened there was a rush to reach the audience hall which was a long way from the entrance. I tried to run faster, but still there were lot of priests already there. It was like running in quick sand. I was fortunate to get a seat next to a friend of mine who agreed to create a space for me when everyone stood to welcome the Holy Father. I also tried to be generous by creating a little space for an older priest who seemed even more excited than I was! To express his gratitude he took a picture with me, too.

We had the audience at the Hall of Blessing in the Apostolic Palace. The hall filled very quickly and there seemed to be close to fifteen hundred priests (I am not sure about my guess) in that hall. Exactly at 11:00 a.m., the Pope appeared at the entrance of the hall and the priests stood up and applauded welcoming him to the room. He began to shake hands with every priest who was standing near the rails. Some priests brought a copy of their doctoral dissertation (only the good ones) to the Pope; another priest gave a shawl to the Holy Father, who placed it on his shoulders. Some priests  wanted the Pope to sign a copy of his book, Jesus of Nazareth, though most of us were longing for an opportunity to just touch or kiss the Pope’s hands, and others were fortunate to receive a blessing. To those he couldn’t reach he waved at them.

My friends, who had been to this audience in previous years, had given us training on what to do. One of the instructions I received really helped me to have some great moments with the Pope. A friend told me when I meet the Holy Father I need to say something ‘profound,’ so he would stop and listen for a moment. He warned me that sometimes the Pope might be holding my hands and looking at the person standing next to us who might be talking to him, and when I got the picture, it might seem that the Pope was ignoring me. I was prepared not to let that happen to me!

The moment came for me to hold the hand of the Holy Father. His hands were always extended and I gave my hands to him. I was thinking of trying my knowledge of German, but decided not to, since I didn’t want my encounter with the Pope ending in disaster! In a loud and clear voice, I told the Holy Father we love him so much, and I love his writing and have read many of his books. He just glanced at me as if he understood everything I wanted to say. At that moment, I didn’t think about the pictures, but when I looked at the pictures later I could understand what was going on in my mind. The priest standing next to me seemed mesmerized even before he touched the Pope.

It was an experience for me to touch and to be touched by the Pope. It also reminded me how much more I should be excited everyday in touching the Body of Christ when I celebrate the Holy Eucharist. The people who experienced the touch of Jesus, as we see in the gospels, were transformed into a new creation and left everything to follow him. The experience of meeting the Pope is exciting, but the touch of Jesus would be much more exciting!

Also, it was both humbling and overwhelming to read the reactions of my friends through emails and facebook messages when I posted the pictures. I can clearly say that I am not worthy of any praise and still have to learn to humble myself more and more, especially during this Lenten season. At the same time, when I see my friends rejoicing in me receiving this humble blessing, I extend this blessing to all of them through my prayers.

The Holy Father seemed very happy, radiating a special spiritual presence from his prayer and grace filled life, and seemed much thinner than when I saw him in pictures. He talked to the priests for fifteen minutes. Even though he was reading from a printed text, he spoke from his heart with the animated use of his hands. As I mentioned earlier, he was meeting the pastors and priests of the diocese of Rome to whom he imparted a lectio divina inspired by St. Paul’s address to the elders of Ephesus in chapter twenty of the Acts of the Apostles, focusing on the priesthood as service and faithfulness.

The vocation the priests received is to freely give their full lifetime, and that one cannot be a priest part time. “We are always priests with all our soul and with all our heart. ... Being an ambassador of Christ ... is a mission which penetrates our entire being.” St. Paul did not preach his gospel or the gospel based on his preferred theological ideas. In the same way, priests “must announce the will of God entirely, including the ‘more difficult’ will ... the themes they may least like personally.”

The Pope said that Lent is a time of conversion, “a change of thinking and of heart,” which leads us to focus not on the things of the world, “but on the presence of God in the world.”

The Pope also highlighted the importance that spiritual life must have for priests. “Praying and meditating on the word of God is not time lost from the care of souls but a condition enabling us to remain in contact with the Lord, and so be able to speak first hand of Him to others.”

Finally, the Pope encouraged priests not to lose hope, despite the difficulties they may encounter in their ministry. “The truth is stronger than lies,” he concluded, “and love is stronger than hatred. God is stronger than all adverse forces. With this joy, with this inner certainty we follow our journey amidst the consolations of God and the persecutions of the world” (Cf. Vatican Information Service).

The Vatican photographer captured more than 2600 pictures in little more than an hour for that function, and my pictures with the pope are from them. The Holy Father shook hands with all the priests who stood by the rails and I am sure almost all of them received similar pictures to mine.

I was thinking as I was writing to you about how much more joyful we all will be when we would meet the Lord in his second coming. I pray and hope we all would be granted permission for that audience with the Lord.