...Rome sizzles in summer heat. A most beautiful Mass for Trinity Sunday in the blessed coolth of St Peter's. A choir sings the Missa de Angelis , sundry cardinals and bishops sit in the stalls, a priest preaches about the Trinity quoting much from Benedict XVI. We stand packed together, some people take pictures and are swiftly reproved...but there is surprising dignity and reverence, despite the crowding, as people go up to receive Communion. There are lots of pilgrim groups, wearing scarves or teeshirts and badges... Around the basilica, people wander, talk, pray, go to confession (yes, we took the opportunity of that too)...
We pray at the tomb of St John Paul II...always a good many people here, but as the crowds diminished after Mass I was able to go and kneel right up at the altar rails by the tomb, resting on the lovely cold marble...
Outside, a vast crowd in scorching St peter's Square greets Pope Francis as he leads the Angelus,, a tiny figure at that upstairs window, but made larger on immense TV screens at a couple of points in the Square. The great bells clash out across Rome.
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