Hi All,
sorry it's late already but i feel i need to share still the miracle happened during our Papal Mass itinerary. but first of all, i'd like to Thank You for everyone guiding me in this forum ! without your guidance, i'd get lost even by the definition of what a Papal Mass is..
as you might know from this forum, the difficulty of us getting the access to the Mass and uncertainty of being able to get into the Basilica even after getting the access had making us quite anxious. We managed to retrieve entrance tickets smoothly a day before. we saw people got rejected and looked desperate wanted to get into the Mass by any chance. some of them even tried to made calls perhaps to their Pastoral so they could contact someone that could grant them permission. i could see desires in these ppl despite of the terror attack, they're not deterred to attend the Mass for their beliefs and i felt really privileged of being able to get the entrance tickets
Unfortunately, on the day, my hubby's knee was injured so he had to take a rest in the hotel and i felt unsafe if there'd be only me and mum alone getting back from the Mass at midnight. Sadly i decided we need to cancel the Mass though i knew my mum would feel disappointed but our safety still had to come first.
Miraculously we met my cousin who was in honeymoon on our way back to hotel just after our visit to St Maria Maggiore Basilica. My cousin had tried to apply for the Mass but unsuccessful and we happened to have 1 extra ticket due to my hubby not able to join in. There was no plan at all for us to meet in this circumstances and we happened to stay in the same hotel! if you don't call this destiny , i don't know what else then. my cousin's husband is 6feet tall and perfect for being our bodyguard :D unfortunately, he couldn't get inside because we only had 3 tickets so being a gentlemen he is, he waited outside freezing for hours. By the time we met, it was 6pm already. i felt very slim chance we could attend the Mass but still didn't want to disappoint my mum further as i could still see her wish to attend the Mass. after all it's one of our main purpose coming there.
we arrived there around 8pm and we could still even get the seats indoor! though it's hard to see the Pope as when he came in everyone raised their cameras up and above and some even stood on their chairs :D. so we finally able to enjoy the Mass though not staying until the end due to our worry not getting the public transport back to hotel. we saw from news the next day that our country's singer, Anggun whom is one of Pope's favourite sang for the night, we wished we stayed a bit later to hear her performed.
getting back was not 'that' easy. we were able to get taxi because we got out firsthand and there were not many Mass visitors this year. otherwise i don't think we could get taxi within 15mnts. the fare was also tremendous, the taxi driver charged us EUR30 for a normal EUR 15max fare! we had to walk a bit further from st peter's, passing a taxi stand where around 5 ppl before us had queued with no taxi insight. it was also a luck we could get the taxi as the ppl before us objected with the fare charge. well the taxi driver said the fare only charged for that night and he drove like an F1 driver would across the bumpy roads of Rome :D
overall it's a pleasant experience and hopefully it could be a useful information for ppl wanting to join the Papal Mass. somehow i also felt the lacking of visitors this year did contribute to a more enjoyable events and i would not be able to get into the Mass that late during previous years. this is also 1 thing in my life that proved faith could bring miracle as my mum's strong faith proven to against all odds. what's yours is yours and if it's meant to happen , it'd happen eventually
GBU
