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  Listening to the first pilgrims

Massimo Aquili

From the first hours of the evening, the “pilgrims” holding their breath crossed the strange atmosphere of a city shut at home for their Christmas Eve dinners. On their own or in groups, in any case forming those long theories of pilgrims dear to the cartography of the Rome of the Seven Churches, they found the right passageways among the friendly alleys of the Borgo and the construction sites that still need to be completed near Castel Sant’Angelo and the Sant’Uffizio. In the tense air of the silent blue of the flashing lights of the security forces, they passed the last check holding their tickets. Via della Conciliazione received them in silence, faithful to the project of being a bridge between the city and the Square. Yes, Saint Peter’s Square. Suddenly everything is clear. She is the place, the setting, the Temple, of the Great Jubilee. The colonnade’s travertine is candid, the façade restored, the whole sculpted by new light, warm and welcoming. Everything gains depth and lightness. At 9.30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, the Night of the Great Jubilee, the sectors at the feet of the parvis were already filled. An elation of languages and dialects. Groups of friends, organised pilgrimages, entire families because mum and dad brought along their young child as well as their older ones. They’ve hardly has a chance to see the nativity scene underneath the obelisk, discovered just hours ago, as they hurry to grab the best possible seats. Everyone was more polite than ever, happy not only of being there, but of participating with all their soul, with the Holy Father, putting up with an incredible cold, in a triumph of hats and woollen scarves, of people wrapped in coats and in the small plastic chairs set up by the sampietrini.  And while in the distance, on the side of the façade, the slow procession with entry tickets for the Basilica was being swallowed through the main door outside in the square the expectations were already an event. Two school groups from the United States, young girls aged between 13 and 14, could be seen on both sides of the square singing the same famous songs, adapted from Eucharistic subjects. It’s a game; the two choirs provoke and respond to each other, when one stops the other starts. The enthusiasm of the girls brought smiles from the other pilgrims, a beautiful picture for the many photographers in the square, a declaration to the reporter on hand. In brief, what does it mean to you to be here tonight? “Joy and love”, answered Mary, from Walwick, Rhode Island, who would begin to recite the Rosary moments later with her pilgrimage companions. Once the technical tests were over, the maxi-screens in the square started working, two at the feet of the statues of the Apostles, two at the beginning of the colonnade. The television Jubilee was being shown, still with no audio. Just in front of the huge screen under the statue of Saint Peter a group of sisters was busy with thermos flask filled with hot tea. They are very young and missionaries, of the Congregation of the “incarnated Verb”. If it weren’t for the veil, the Mother Superior could easily be mistaken with the young American schoolgirls. Her name is Sister Maria De Anima Christi. “We come from all over the world, Taiwan, Brazil, USA, Ukraine, Argentina”, explains Sister Maria, “we met here in Rome of the Jubilee. For us being here is a little like an anticipation of Heaven. It only happens”, she adds, “when happiness stems from the soul”. Just minutes before the start of the celebration, silence has descended onto the square. It’s a vigil waiting, there’s no heart for anything else. In the square there’s only space for the words of the Holy Father, for a sign of emotion when the Pope leans both his hands on the Holy Door and opens it, for the applause when he has just crossed the threshold. The Basilica’s clock shows it’s 11.25 p.m. Then the sound of the African horns finally seizes the square and returns it to its silence. It’s 1.40 a.m. when an infinite procession of priests exits the Basilica with the Eucharist. Another special moment. One hundred or maybe more descended the Vatican hill, from the central door of the Basilica, and once in the square mixed among the crowd of pilgrims, administering the Sacrament. Towards the end of Christmas Eve Mass, the carabinieri loosened the security cordon, and many Romans and many people without tickets joined the lower part of the square. Agnese, still holding her motorcycle helmet, has been there for a while. She’s from Krakow and has a permit to stay. “The Pope was born in a town just a few kilometres from my city”, she explains with pride. And of the Night of the Jubilee she says: “I will never forget it”.

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