LinoRulli.com Lino at Large
April 1 | April 2 | April 3 | April 4 (Lying in State)

April 5 | April 6 | April 7 | April 8 (Funeral Mass)
April 6

April 6, 2005.

Ok. Seriously. The whole world has shown up in Rome. This was really strange.

Suddenly every street within one mile of St. Peter's Basilica was either closed by police or so filled with pilgrims that you couldn't walk through. Pilgrims everywhere! And where there weren't pilgrims?

There was media...



...everywhere you looked...



So while we were all there to say good-bye to John Paul II, our little "personal" good-byes were shared with the whole world. The crazy thing about these days was that every time you'd do something, the media were always watching. So every moment was always shared with some random photographer.

Take this as an example:



You see the girl wearing the "pace" (peace) flag, writing a good-bye note to JPII? While she's having a very heart felt moment, 2 eager photographers are capturing her every move.

Journalists from every country were there, of course. And American journalists were all over the place. But the strange thing was, there weren't many American pilgrims in Rome during this time. So American media were scrambling around trying to find English speaking Catholics.

You knew they were in trouble when they eventually had to turn to me...

This guy from Fox News interviewed me:



I took a picture of him afterward because he was probably having to explain to his bosses back in the states why he let a clown like me on the air with him.

Reporter: "But no one here is American! I interviewed the kid with the big nose because he kind of spoke English ok. What do you want from me!?"

After getting a taste of being on the air again, I decided to go from pilgrim...to journalist...and get myself a press pass. It was the only way I'd be able to stay in the city and experience what was happening.

If you can't beat 'em...join 'em!



This way I'd have the access of a journalist - with the opportunity to stand in St. Peter's Square pretending to work - when I was actually just a pilgrim wanting to take it all in.

Amid all the craziness, it was almost easy to forget what this was all about. Because with John Paul II's body lying in state...the entire city was doing one of two things:
1. Waiting in line to see him.
2. Already had been in line to see him...and not sure what else to do in Rome while waiting for the funeral.

They were really strange days. On the one hand, we were celebrating John Paul II's life and it was like a festival of faith.

But on the other hand, the Pope we loved had died. What that meant for us. Or the Church. Or the world. We just weren't sure.