What a whirlwind of a day. We started the day with another amazing Mass location at St. John Lateran, followed by climbing the Scala Sacra (the steps Jesus was condemned to death on by Pontius Pilate – brought to Rome by St. Helena) on our knees. a quick lunch and then off to St. Peter’s.

Rome is in full “papal-palooza” mode right now. Reporters, crowds, police all over the place in anticipation of the start of the conclave tomorrow. We’ll be heading to St. Peter’s Basilica at 7 am to get seats for the Mass for the election of the New Pope with the entire college of Cardinals, which should be an amazing experience. So I’m going to try to get to bed early. thanks for following, all your kind words, comments, messages, sharing… It’s been overwhelming trying to read your messages and not having enough time to respond, but I am reading everything.

Here’s a few last shots from the day: (the last one a view of the chimney that everyone will be looking at a lot the next few days taken from the dome of the basilica)