Startling visuals from special “Urbi et Orbi” ceremony in Rome against the pandemic

Today Francis has an extraordinary “Urbi et Orbi” ceremony, with prayers in this time of pandemic.  They brought the famous Crucifix from San Marcello.  It had been carried in 1522 in procession through Rome against the plague for several days.  Also, they brought from St. Mary Major the beloved icon of Mary, Salus Populi Romani… Salvation (Health) of the Roman People.

Some startling pics I captured from the feed.

Empty square, and streets, and basilica.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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18 Comments

  1. I watched the live Vatican News feed and also took some screen shots. I was struck by some of the same moments.

    It’s interesting how, when things get real, the liberalism and modernism and “pastoral accompaniment” and new-world-order stuff just sort of sneaks off and slinks away into the darkness, proving how non-serious and irrelevant it all is.

  2. Sandy says:

    Watched it live and it was very moving. I wish there had been a translation in real time, but I didn’t see one on the Vatican Live feed. Adoration and Benediction made me cry profusely; it was very powerful and beautiful to know that there is no separation because of time and distance with God! We were there with Him.

  3. FrAnt says:

    When I watched, YouTube said that 261K people were tuned in to watch. St. Peter’s Square might have been empty, but a quarter of million people were there in spirit.

  4. teomatteo says:

    saw it with my family on ewtn. I wasnt real comfortable with the lady translator. but that’s just me.

  5. Gregg the Obscure says:

    not just stunning visuals, but chants of great Latin prayers.

  6. Gaetano says:

    When the mess has hit the fan, the real icons come out.

  7. Fallibilissimo says:

    It was breathtaking in some many ways of beauty.
    I also appreciated the Crucifix made in apparently “rough hewn trunks” in a city literally halting its step….

    Was very moving indeed.

  8. David says:

    The whole scene was redolent of Fatima:

    -the bishop clothed in white
    -a steep mountain (steps)
    -atop which a cross, made of rough-hewn logs
    -a city half in ruins, half trembling
    -the Holy Father walking with halting step, praying for the dead

    Intentional? Portentous?

  9. iamlucky13 says:

    “When I watched, YouTube said that 261K people were tuned in to watch. St. Peter’s Square might have been empty, but a quarter of million people were there in spirit.”

    There were 4 people watching on our screen. I’m sure we weren’t the only family watching together.

    Pope Francis seemed to be struggling the hold the monstrance by the end of the blessing…in a sense shouldering the weight of the cross for a moment.

    I admit I was relieved when another minister acted as a Cyrenian for him.

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  11. Tara Tremuit says:

    I admit when I saw the fire fern bowls and barbeque pit out front of St. Peter’s I got my hopes up that we was gonna see some Pachaburnin.’ Instead, we had a climapology and the fire went out. Catholic Popes in time of plague have always responded first with repentance and penance, to beg God’s mercy upon us for our sins. Idolatry in the Vatican comes readily to mind as a good place to start. (God puts up with all manner of law breaking in the OT but when His own people go after false gods, He takes away their worship ’til they are either good and sorry or good and dead.) But, we are told, “this is not a time for God’s judgement,” We are to judge, to choose, you see, what is important in life. And what was with the creepy litany? We already have a firebomb of a sevenfold litany. When Pope St. Gregory prayed it, St. Michael sheathed his sword, the angels sang and the plague was averted! Welp, if you don’t learn to be sorry with the first plague, God can always send another! Even Pharaoh relented when it got bad enough, so there is yet hope. I just hate to think what the body count will be by then. May Francis, like King David of old, beg that we be spared the punishment for his sins before the next one hits. (Wonderful to have Adoration and Benediction and to hear the Parce, Adoro te, Tantum and Divine Praises. The Liturgy speaks where speeches falter…)

  12. jnxt7707 says:

    Tara, I can relate to your comments.
    I myself did not see it, but I find the images moving to me, as well as some of the other comments above.
    He’s definitely not my favorite Pope, but he IS the Pope now – and as such can be an instrument of our Lord. As each day passes, the relevance of Pachamamas, women priests, et al fade, and the importance of turning our attention to God increases.
    A tiny virus has the modern world cowering in the shadows, powerless.

    [I must disagree with part of this. It seems to me that, in this time of global reassessment of values, that Pachamama debacle and other renegade projects in the Church (pushing for the ordination of women, liturgical abuse, Communion in the hand) are of great relevance.]

  13. chuckharold says:

    I found several things very moving. When I grew up PPXII was carried in a throne carried by several men dressed in white ties. To see the Pope walk across the plaza, alone, was breathtaking. To see a Pope alone, except for his Master of Ceremonies was moving. His reflection on the Gospel was well done. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament would be something new for so many Catholics, where the practice is not too familiar. I was surprised that I still knew about 80% of the Latin chants. I’ve been away from them for over 50 years. It was a once-in-a-lifetime prayer vigil.

  14. Tara Tremuit says:

    jnxt7707: Pharaoh was an instrument. Aaron was an instrument. Moses was an instrument, King David was an instrument. The Pharisees were instruments. Paul VI was an instrument. Yes! Francis is an instrument. God uses men to accomplish His holy and perfect will even when they may seek to flout it. Your comment did not address the point, which is that when the leaders of God’s own people break the first commandment publically, public worship is taken from them until they repent or die. If there was no idolatry (or profanation of the Sacraments or the ‘temple’) in our time, then there is nothing to see here…it’s all coincidence, just a fluke of nature or another Chicom fail. If there was idolatry, then nothing but a full-scale public atonement for that (seemingly so tawdry) but immense and monstrous crime will avert God’s just and holy wrath.

  15. Tara Tremuit says:

    What surprises me more than anything is how ecstatic people are that the Pope did this. We are so unaccustomed to our heirarchs behaving as normal men of faith that we fall all over ourselves with gratitude when they do something Catholic. I am grateful, of course, for Benediction beautifully done. What I can’t get over is why this should be so extraordinary. The “High Noon” type staging was deliberate but misleading. It was set up so the world see a lone shepherd standing in the breach between the faithless flock and a sleeping God. What the stage-hands and actors hope we will forget is that this time it was the Head Honcho who brought down this darkness upon the people, and like David of old, he must beg God to visit His judgement upon him. God will relent! He always has before! Give it a try! The Pope must beg pardon for his own sins and the sins of his fellow prelates. The list is long. Start with commandment One and keep a-going. You only get to be Gary Cooper if you are, in fact, Gary Cooper. God will not be fooled.

  16. Tara Tremuit says: What surprises me more than anything is how ecstatic people are that the Pope did this. We are so unaccustomed to our heirarchs behaving as normal men of faith that we fall all over ourselves with gratitude when they do something Catholic. I am grateful, of course, for Benediction beautifully done. What I can’t get over is why this should be so extraordinary.

    Because, with the deprivation of tradition, we have been living for a very long time on starvation rations. “A soul that is full shall tread upon the honeycomb; and a soul that is hungry shall take even bitter for sweet.” Proverbs 27:7.

    I found the benediction of the Blessed Sacrament very moving and evidence of how the graces of office will sometimes assert themselves in spite of the office holder. I also found this moment to be proof of the power of tradition and the utter impotence of modernism in the face of stark reality. Besides being heretical, the modernist experiment has proven itself to be irrelevant by dint of its complete failure to address the real needs of real human beings.

    As to the Pope’s comments and the prayers in Italian, I watched a feed without a translation and I don’t know enough Italian to understand what was being said. I decided that would be just as well, lest the moment be spoiled for me.

  17. Tara Tremuit says:

    Anita Moore, so well put, all of it. The quotation from Proverbs and the starvation rations analogy exactly describes it. And yes, the absolute contrast between the impotence of modernism and the virile, fruitful power of tradition. The visuals of the event even bear this out, the contrast between the pergola of earthbound doom with Francis in the center and the beautiful, splendid hope within the interior of St. Peter, with Our Lord in the center. Between man’s word to man in the square, and God’s Word to God in the Liturgy, no comparison can stand. Thank-you for your comment, and please, if you would, pray for me!

  18. Titus says:

    Was it just me, or did he not actually pronounce the Urbi at Orbi blessing? I’ve watched several and been in the square for one, and I’ve never heard Francis use the form of words “in the book” for this.

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