Even though we are Protestants, my wife and I will be in Rome this coming Easter and we want to attend Easter Mass at St. Peters. No doubt it will be crowded and hectic, but what a moving experience it must be. Has anyone gone before? Does anyone have any suggestions or tips and tricks for getting a seat inside St. Peters? How early should one arrive? Any logistics I should know about? Thanks in advance.
Posted by
Poulsbo, WA, US
223 posts
We attended the Holy Thursday service presided over by the pope which I would suggest if you are worried about the crowds. It was pretty amazing for sure. Tickets were required and as I recall we picked them up the day before. We arrived for the service maybe an hour or so before and were not at the front but not at the back either. It may be a decent option if the timing works.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8166 posts
I too will be in the St. Peters Square on Easter. I was thinking the Pope addresses the crowd @ 12:00 on Easter from his balcony. They wouldn't let the crowd within 100 yards of the balcony this past Christmas. Stop by the info booth @ St. Peters a couple of days early and ask how to get into Sunday Mass. There are also other great churches in the city that might be easier to get into. Easter in Rome should be quite an experience. Don't worry about being a Protestant in Rome on Easter. My wife is a Catholic turned Southern Baptist, and we'll be Catholics for two days. As a Christian first, we can swing both ways.
Posted by
Scottsdale, AZ, USA
1127 posts
You have to have a ticket to attend Easter Sunday Mass. Request tickets from the Pontifical North American College: http://www.pnac.org/pilgrim-information/tickets-for-papal-audiences-and-events/ No, you do not need to be Catholic to attend. A ticket does not guarantee you a seat and the square will be packed. Even if it rains expect big crowds.
Posted by
The Hague, NL (AMS)
2207 posts
SamSn is correct! The Square will be filled and the crowd will spill out and down the street. The seating will be packed. We've been a few times as we lived next to the Vatican and the crowds were often almost to Castel Sant' Angleo! So do expect huge crowds. You are supposed to have tickets to get a seat... but one year we went because I had Catholic friends visiting and they last-minute decided they wanted to go. The Mass starts about 10:30 AM so we headed over after 09:00. When we got there I told them to follow me, don't stop, act like you belong and without tickets we walked in - past the Swiss Guards - and sat down front. Many folks in the area had no tickets. So security is a mixed bag. We had great seats on the aisle; well at least for a while. There are no rules, no regulations or anyone doing crowd control so everyone in the back rows brought their seats up front and the "aisle" soon filled in! In addition, at times people were standing on their chairs, so to see you stood on your chair. And there was a constant jousting & repositioning of "the chairs" so it seemed like a continuous "demolition derby" with chairs. Be prepared to defend your territory - and your view! And then it started raining; and boy did it rain. Good thing we brought umbrellas. About 11:45, I looked at my soaked friends (Mass still going on) and asked if they were ready to leave. They said, "We were ready a half-hour ago; we thought you wanted to stay." And so we fought our way out through the crowds to the exit. It is an interesting experience (for me, a non-Catholic), but with the TV monitors and such, I'm not sure you need a seat - especially if the weather is projected to be bad. For some photos of our rainy day, see this article.