OUR TRIP TO ITALY APRIL 2007 - ST PETER'S SQUARE

After St Peter's Basilica, where we took a photo of Pope John XX 's body and tomb, we landed in St Peter's Square. It was just after Easter and there were still lots of chairs in the Square where the Easter Sunday Mass was held. We were able to see the buildings that surround the Square and the famous Egyptian obelisk in the centre. The Vatican Obelisk is the only obelisk in Rome that has not toppled since Roman times. it was brought to Rome by Caligula in 38BC from the town of Heliopolis, on the Nile Delta.
St Peter's Square is the large public square outside St Peter's Basilica, which is considered the greatest church on Earth. The square is actually round, with the perimeter marked by two huge colonnades. The roofs of these colonnades are supported by four rows of Doric columns 60-feet tall. The ellipse symbolizes Saint Peter's, the mother church of Christianity, embracing the world. The obelisk is flanked by two fountains, and halfway between the fountains and the obelisk are stone circles in the ground. If you stand on one of the circles, you can see an optical illusion -- the four rows of 60-foot tall pillars forming the colonnade disappear behind each other and look like a single row. The piazza has to be large to accommodate the throngs that show up at noon on Sundays and several other times each week to hear the Pope say mass and to receive his blessing. As it is now, the square can handle about 300,000 people but has been known to pack in more. The Pope delivers his blessing from a library window overlooking the square.
There is also a Souvenier shop which sells Catholic books, crosses, rosaries and other souveniers to worshippers and tourists. The prices were very reasonable.

OUR TRIP TO ITALY APRIL 2007 - ST PETER"S BASILICA

The End of the Sistine Chapel was in a large room with frescos of The New Testament on one wall and The Old Testament on the opposite wall.
It is here that that the cardinals will pray to choose the next Pope. From here we leave the beautiful Sistine Chapel with the wonderful art of Michaelangelo( Remember the book and Movie "The Agony and the Ectacsy" which deals with the emotional state of Michaelangelo as he is torn between helping his Pope and his desire to return to his home in Florence.
We then entered the St Peter's Basilica where most of the Popes including St Peter were buried and where the Pope celebrates Mass.
The Basilica of Saint Petrus, officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly called Saint Peter's Basilica, is one of four major basilicas of Rome (St. John Lateran, St. Peter's, Santa Maria Maggiore and St. Paul outside the Walls).
It is the most prominent building inside the Vatican City. Its dome is also a dominant feature of the Roman skyline. Saint Peter's is also incidentally the patriarchal basilica of Constantinople whereas the Lateran Basilica is the patriarchal basilica of Rome.
Possibly the largest church building in Christianity[2], it covers an area of 5.7 acres (2.3 ha) and has a capacity of over 60,000 people. One of the holiest sites of Christendom in the Catholic tradition, it is traditionally the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, first Bishop of Antioch, and later first Bishop of Rome. Although the New Testament does not mention Peter's presence or martyrdom in Rome, ancient tradition holds that his tomb is below the baldachin and altar; for this reason, many Popes, starting with the first ones, have been buried there.
Construction on the current basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica, began on April 18, 1506 and was completed in 1626[3].
Although the Vatican basilica is not the Pope's official ecclesiastical seat (Saint John Lateran), it is most certainly his principal church, as most Papal ceremonies take place at St. Peter's due to its size, proximity to the Papal residence, and location within the Vatican City walls. The basilica also holds a relic of the Cathedra Petri, the episcopal throne of the basilica's namesake when he led the Roman church, but which is no longer used as the Papal cathedra. It is believed that a piece of this cathedra, or chair, is contained within the altarpiece, designed by Bernini.

The light coming down from the roof of the Basilica lights up the whole church. It was a masterpiece of architecture with lower and upper floor. The lower floor was where the Pope celebrates Mass with his cardinals and bishops while the upper floor was where the Pope celebrate Mass with the congregation.