16 September 2010

Papal Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Scotland

Today I possessed a front row seat to history being created, as Pope Benedict XVI became the first Head of State of the Holy See to visit the United Kingdom. In 1982, Pope John Paul II visited Great Britain in his role as Holy Father of the Catholic Church and thus did not meet with any members of Her Majesty’s Government or The Royal Family. At 10:30 AM the papal jet landed at Edinburgh International Airport and Benedict XVI was greeted on the tarmac by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and the Royal Scots Guard. I first saw the Pope in the popemobile, as he travelled in a motorcade towards the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Her Majesty The Queen’s Royal Residence in Scotland.

At 11:00 AM the Pope was being given a State Welcome at the palace with all the members of the Order of the Thistle; the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg; senior members of the Royal Family and prominent member of British Society, along with the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Pope Benedict XVI was then granted an audience with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. During the State Reception for the Papal Delegation, I travelled by train from Edinburgh to Glasgow with the University of Edinburgh Catholic Student Union to attend the open-air Mass in the presence of the Holy Father at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park. It should be noted that Bellahouston was the location where Pope John Paul II held the first ever Papal Mass in Great Britain back in 1982 to a crowd of well over 100,000 worshipers.

As the popemobile began a procession through the streets of Edinburgh at around 12:30 PM I was just entering the park with the Catholic Student Union and watched aerial scenes of the historic journey on the jumbotron. My presence at the Mass is directly attributed to the help of my friend Chiara, from near Milano, whom I studied with during my LL.M. and her friend, Brett, whom graciously looked after me during the pilgrimage and patiently answered my numerous questions regarding traditions, fundamental beliefs and history of the Catholic Church.

While the Pope and his official motorcade made their way from Edinburgh to Glasgow, the crowd was entertained by Susan Boyle, a native Scotswoman who rose to fame a couple years ago during the television show, Britain’s Got Talent, for her amazing vocal abilities.

At 16:45, Pope Benedict had arrived at Bellahouston Park and made his way to the pulpit where he prepared for the Holy Mass. It was at this point in time that I was less than five feet away from His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI as he made his way towards the steps. As the Entrance Procession made their way past the music of “Grace to you and Peace” and “Be thou my vision” played. It was a moment before this, when the Holy Father was vesting and the Strathclyde Police Bagpipe Band were playing “Amazing Grace” with a 1,000 member choir singing the classic lines that the magnitude of the event hit me and something inside acknowledged that I was observing something very special, which words would be feudal to describe.

A liturgy of the Word (an excerpt of The Bible), Romans 12:3-13, Psalm 22 and Luke 10:1-9 were read and in the Scottish tradition, a Celtic Invocation given. The Archbishop of Glasgow then gave the Pope an ancient book, written by St Ninian from the 4th Century. A prayer was said over the gift and a salute to the Feast of Saint Ninian, the Apostle of Scotland, born a Briton, but travelled to Rome and then back to faraway isle to spread the light of faith in Jesus. A Eucharistic prayer was read in Latin by the Holy Father and then the sermon was delivered. Since this was a Papal State occasion, the message was targeted to a much larger audience than the 60,000 gathered in Bellahouston Park. He said the future of Christianity is with the youth a point which I highly agree, though the latter portion of his talk focused on the negative effects of privatizing religion and the removal of the church from society – a premises which I find archaic and treading on dangerous consequences of religion becoming a tool of state power, rather than as a guide for the faithful.

The Mass ended and I celebrated the very special occasion with the Glasgow and Edinburgh University Catholic Student Unions in the tradition manner of wine, cheese and bread. It was rewarding for me to be party to such a monumentous and historic occasion and to have been witness to the first ever State Visit by the Pontiff of the Holy See to Great Britain and then to have been within an arm’s length of the Pope twice in a single day – once while he was wearing a tartan shawl to show his support for the Scottish people and the second time as he was fully vested for Mass. To those who read this account, peace be with you.

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