Archdiocese of Toronto Blog. Their team have set up a special webpage, archtoronto.org/jp2, to celebrate the beatification of Pope John Paul II. You can also follow proceedings on their facebook and twitter accounts.
Up for 24 hours + can be an interesting feeling. Not getting much sleep on a flight across the ocean is nothing new. So when you arrive in Rome at 7:30 a.m. you have two options: a) sleep and stay on a very strange body rhythm schedule or b) acclimatize as best you can and try to adjust to the new timeline as soon as possible.
So Emanuel and I chose the latter road to travel today. We picked up our media accreditation which will provide us with some excellent access to various sites throughout the next several days. The traditional Vatican Press Office has been expanded to include a Temporary Accreditation Centre, regular home to the Pontifical Council of Social Communications to accommodate the thousands of communicators expected to descend on Rome.
The weather Thursday in Rome was beautiful, about 20 degrees celsius, a little cloudy and breezy but the sun crept throughout most of the day.
Walking through St. Peter's Square it's evident that plans are in full swing to prepare for the weekend events with everything from portable toilets to security barricades and other prep underway. Estimates at this point are that at least 1 million people will be making the trek but hard to know what final numbers will look like.
Stepping back, at any given time, if you're to peruse the crowds, many in national colours, you'd see a Canadian, German & Polish pilgrim walking side by side, hand in hand or even singing together as they all come together for this most joyful occasion.
Public transit is the way to go here so we managed a few subway rides - interesting to note that to accommodate the massive crowds, subways will run from 5:00 a.m. - 1:30 a.m. Saturday and 4:00 a.m. - 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning. All that said, you can expect that some stations may experience temporary closures, as they did in the Jubilee year for World Youth Day 2000 when it just wasn't safe to allow any more pilgrims into the subway.
I can still recall leaving the final mass at WYD Rome at about 11:00 a.m. and making my way back to our meeting point at the end of the subway line about 7:00 p.m. In between, there was a walk of about 20 km, 5 subways stops closed and 40 degree heat. Ah yes, pilgrimage at its best. Why do I get the feeling we may be prepping for the sequel?
We also had the chance to connect with Archbishop Collins along with his M.C. Fr. Ed Curtis for a rooftop interview that will likely remain an exclusive - trust me when I say there was some great lines but remember that part about technical difficulties? Well let's just say that we'd prefer that you be able to understand the wisdom of His Grace and not be fighting the mighty wind that was present on the rooftop - we'll try for a retake at some point in the next few days.
As for media coverage at this point, we've got strong interest from the Toronto Star, 680 News, CBC and a few others that we're working on, both from Rome and the home office in Toronto. Suffice it to say, most folks back in Canada will likely enter Royal Wedding mode Friday but we'll be stopping by the Canadian College to visit with some of our Toronto priests, attend a Vatican press conference and work on some more proactive media opportunities.
So it's just about time to work on a little sleep given that this has been one of the longer work days of the year. After dinner with pilgrims from Windsor, Bradford and Etobicoke, one might say that we're off to a great start.
In short to recap, Rome is well on the way to setting the table for a million friends to come for a visit...first come, first served. Should make for quite a line for this buffet of faith!
Follow the latest updates over the weekend at www.archtoronto.org/jp2/