Italian Police officers patrol in front of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, March 10, 2013. /AP Photo
ROME You're expecting hundreds of thousands of guests. You don't know where they're coming from, or when they'll arrive. You don't even know the date of the celebration.
And heaven only knows the name of the man being feted.
Planning for the moment when the next pope is proclaimed to the world, and for the installation ceremony a few days later, is a big-time guessing game. And that adds up to an ungodly logistical headache for the city of Rome.
When white smoke pours out of the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, throngs of Romans will drop what they're doing and race to St. Peter's Square to cheer the new pope when he steps out onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. If the next pontiff hails from somewhere in Italy, thousands can be expected to pack trains to the capital.
Then there are all the foreigners flying into town to capture the historic moment — an influx that may become overwhelming if cardinals break with tradition and elect the first pope from Latin America, home to 40 percent of the world's Catholics.
A tented field hospital will go up in a square near the Vatican by the eve of the start of the conclave on Tuesday, ensuring that emergency medical treatment will be just around the corner if any pilgrim feels ill or stumbles in the rush to glimpse the new pope.
While there are no other special plans for the conclave itself, Rome authorities have a detailed game-plan for the papal installation that takes place a few days after the pope is elected. The audience for that momentous event in St. Peter's Square will include presidents, prime ministers, religious leaders and tens of thousands of pilgrims, along with the throngs of accidental tourists who happen to be in town.
Police helicopters will whirl overhead. Thousands of extra police will be summoned to duty to keep streets safe and unclogged. Officers on motorized rubber dinghies will glide down the Tiber, ready to dive into the river's murky waters to pick out anything suspicious. Bomb-sniffing dogs will poke their noses down manholes and trash bins in security sweeps along the routes that both VIPs and faithful will cover en route to the square.
As soon as the installation date is known, some 500 Civil Protection volunteers, many of them ready to hop on Segways, will receive phone calls to spring into action. They know the drill for the big day: They'll report to Rome's main train station and the subway stop closest to the Vatican before dawn, helping like good shepherds to channel the flock along designated streets, closed to traffic, that lead to St. Peter's Square.
"Not even the Vatican knows how big the crowd will be," said Mario Vallorosi, who heads the Rome office of the government's Civil Protection service. "It will be affected by who (the pope) is. If he's a Latin American, he will draw huge crowds." Conservative crowd estimates, he told The Associated Press, run between 200,000 and 300,000.
Since Benedict XVI gave two-week's notice last month for his resignation — the first in 600 years — there have been a few `'trial runs" of crowd control and security in St. Peter's Square. His final public audience drew so many people (some 150,000 people) there wasn't enough space for all in the vast cobblestone square. Surrounding streets quickly filled up with the overflow, with many faithful watching the pope's final public Vatican appearance on maxi-screens set up for them.
The Vatican's own security force, known as the gendarmerie, is in charge of the crowd inside the square and Italian police handle crowd control just outside the Vatican's boundaries. Security officers from both forces included plainclothes agents dressed up as pilgrims and tourists, listening to the chatter in the square and watching for any unusual movements.
Nearly everything went smoothly for Benedict's last public appearances, although some faithful panicked during the retired pope's penultimate Sunday blessing from his studio window, when thousands of last-minute arrivals tried to squeeze through three narrow openings through a metal fence ringing the edge of the square.
Rome enjoyed at least a few days scramble time for those last papal events. Now, uncertainty surrounding the conclave is adding huge pressure.
`'The biggest concern is lack of information," said Giammario Nardi, the man Rome's mayor has put in charge of hosting special events.
Nardi insisted the city is not privy to any hints from the Vatican about when the papal installation will take place. `'We're operating on predictions," he said, "on what the newspapers tell us."
Nardi spoke with The Associated Press several hours before the Vatican announced on Friday that the cardinals will start voting for Benedict's successor on Tuesday, a process that could wrap up in a day or two, or might need more time.
With a shudder, Nardi recalled how ambulances were blocked by the narrow streets of the Borgo, the neighborhood near the Vatican, when faithful couldn't squeeze into the square and clogged the streets after John Paul II's death in 2005. In those days crowds turned out day and night to pray at the Vatican and pass by his body as it lay on display in St. Peter's Basilica.
The decision to set up a field hospital this time is fruit of that bad memory, he said.
They could be if the don't take time repenting publicly for the fact that one of the major leaders of the EOC branded ratzinger and his predecessor, heretics & voided & invalidated all the Roman Catholic Sacraments because Ratzinger Basically stated in a world ecumenical council a couple of years ago, that Christ Jesus was NOT the only way to get to heaven. (They agreed Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc, were another way, in effect, calling Christ Jesus a liar, basically) The video is on the net of the proclamation as well as pics of Ratzinger participating in pagan ceremonies to promote his universal ecumenicist agenda "of love". Roman Catholics believe in a different Jesus, and a different gospel, that, according to Saint Paul, is not a gospel at all, which is why the RCC has become SOO corrupt. See Source; www dot .cross.tv/74799 AND www dot .cross.tv/74896 IF you don't believe this comment.
What a mess this church is and I can personally see why. I had a Colorado Knight of Columbus use the "integrity" of his Knighthood to collateralize hundreds of dollars in loans from this unemployed senior. Of course, so far after well over a year from when payment was due I have still not seen a dime. This from a "Knight" in an organization that on it's website says: "in this Year of Faith, the good works of the Order are a strong witness to the message of Christ." I tried to discuss this issue with the headquarters and was promptly shut down. I guess the "message of Christ" they hear is from a different Christ than the one in the Bible.
Please, before you post, please take the time to find out the FACTS about the arrest warrants on Pope Benedict and his minions. The International Tribunal for Crimes into Church and State [itccs(dot)org] has conducted a tribunal in Brussels, Belgium and have convicted Pope Benedict and his minions (and a few others) of crimes against humanity and have issued warrants of arrest. Again, KNOW what you're talking about before you post. Go to itccs(dot)org
Before you post, please take the time to find out the FACTS about the arrest warrant on Pope Benedict and his minions. The International Tribunal for Crimes into Church and State (go to itccs(dot)org)conducting a tribunal in Brussels, Belgium have convicted Pope Benedict and his and his minions (and a few others) of crimes against humanity and have issued a warrants of arrest. Again, KNOW what you're talking about before you post. Go to itccs(dot)org
The stupid website you refer to says the following, all the result of a "Citizens Arrest Warrant", like Gomer Pyle in the Andy Griffiths Show: "The public seizure of the property and assets of the guilty parties and their organizations will also commence today, in Canada, the United States, England and Italy, in accordance with the Court Order. The fugitive criminals include Catholic, Anglican and United Church officers in Canada, corporate and RCMP officials, and the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. But they also include former Pope Joseph Ratzinger, three top Cardinals in Vatican City, the head of the Jesuit Order, and the Queen of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury."
Ah, so these yahoos are going to arrest the Canadian Prime Minister, the Queen of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police! Very nice. Man I'd like a pound of whatever you're smoking. No, on second thought I'll just take a pass.
Take a look at youtub(dot)com/watch?v=5HmSkgO0JFc and you'll see that there is an arrest warrant out for Pope Benedict and several others for crimes against humanity. This is why he resigned. Also, get info from itccs(dot)org if you want all the details on this. It is a HUGE matter that many nations are getting involved with. itccs(dot)org is International Tribunal into Crimes in Church and State. So please watch (listen) to the youtube link and get all the details. itccs(dot)org
These fananics represent other Catholics around the world who will not accept same sex marriage being sanctioned by the church. Yesterday CBS reported on a poll taken of 497 Catholics, a large % is said they want the church to recognize same sex marriage. Where was this poll taken? Not from 497 people coming out of Sunday masses.
Where was the poll taken? My guess would be at colleges/universaries. The average age of those asked, 20 years old.
If Jesus existed, he made it perfectly clear about mixing financial issues with religious issues. This is where the Catholic Church got lost in my opinion. Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a heart and mind cultivation process that is available on line for free. Falun Gong can help anyone with some of the very difficult decisions that one has to make in this often confusing world. Decisions concerning such issues as drug abuse, abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, belief in a higher power and many many more. www.falundafa.org. Donations are neither asked for or accepted. Thank you for your consideration.
You can get a lot of information on why Pope Benedict resigned to avoid arrest. But it didn't seem to work. You can get more info on this at itccs(dot)org and see how many nations are getting involved in his arrest.
"Do you think Pope Benedict stepped down because of his Involvement and the cover up of Priests raping children, since recent Arrest Warrants have been issued? See itccs(dot)org to keep up with this and to see how many Nations are getting involved.
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"The public seizure of the property and assets of the guilty parties and their organizations will also commence today, in Canada, the United States, England and Italy, in accordance with the Court Order.
The fugitive criminals include Catholic, Anglican and United Church officers in Canada, corporate and RCMP officials, and the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. But they also include former Pope Joseph Ratzinger, three top Cardinals in Vatican City, the head of the Jesuit Order, and the Queen of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury."
Ah, so these yahoos are going to arrest the Canadian Prime Minister, the Queen of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police! Very nice.
Man I'd like a pound of whatever you're smoking. No, on second thought I'll just take a pass.
Where was the poll taken? My guess would be at colleges/universaries. The average age of those asked, 20 years old.
his Involvement and the cover up of Priests raping children, since
recent Arrest Warrants have been issued? See itccs(dot)org to keep up with
this and to see how many Nations are getting involved.