Rome?

As a devout agnostic, the religious aspect doesn't interest me much. But culturally, it's fascinating. And since we were just there last July for the first time, it's a treat to feel a bit more connected to the event. Since our apartment in Rome was so close to the Vatican, we spent parts of three evenings simply milling about St. Peter's square and enjoying the relative tranquility of the space at that time of the evening. So when I see the crowd there celebrating as the white smoke billows from the chimney, I feel connected to it in a way that would have been impossible without having ever visited.

Randy... totally agree about feeling so much more connected to the historical aspect of it all having been there. Much easier to relate.

A friend of mine was trying to convince me to drive 10 hours with her to Rome this weekend if the new pope hadn't been elected yet...realistically I wouldn't have done it (sequester is affecting our travel budget in a very bad way) but it would have been cool.

My daughter is there. She got to see it unfold first hand. She and her friends were so excited. I will admit that I'm glad all the hoopla will be done by the time I get there next month.

"devout agnostic" Hmm Randy. So you are certain that you are not certain. The thrill I felt when I heard the Pope would resign was only exceeded by my disappointment when I discovered that they would just appoint another one.

The big "hoopla" will happen on Tuesday, when the new Pope is officially appointed to the job. According to Italian news this morning, there's going to be many major world leaders in attendance. If I understood correctly, VP Biden will be representing the U.S. and Governor-General David Johnston will represent Canada. I watched the events unfold on live TV from the first puff of white smoke, and it was rather exciting to see. There were reportedly over 100K people huddled in the rain in St. Peter's Square. Cheers!