Our first of hopefully many visits to the Basilica....
If you stand on this point in the ellipse that makes up St. Peter's square...
...you see just a single row of columns beneath the great saints....
....but step away from that point, and there are actually 4 rows of these grand columns under there!
These tired looking lions have a big job...
...they balance on their backs this 330 ton granite obelisk.
It was brought to Rome in 37 BC by Emperor Caligula and erected in his circus. There it stood as the silent witness to the martyrdom of St. Peter and many other Christians.
For pagans, the obelisk was a solar symbol that represented a vital flow between heaven and earth, a way of communicating to the divine. As a pagan monument in the greatest Christian square, it is a symbol of humanity reaching out to Christ. Originally inscribed to "Divine Augustus" and "Divine Tiberius" and now dedicated to the Holy Cross - "Christus Vincit, Christus Regnat, Christus Imperat. Christus ab omni malo plebem suam defendat." (Christ is the victor, Christ is King, Christ is the ruler, May Christ defend His people from all evil). It is topped by a bronze cross containing a fragment of the true Cross.
The Pieta, one of my favorite works ever. Michelangelo, 1498.
Tomb of Blessed Pope John Paul II.
Making the ascent up the cupola...
Our second Sunday mass in Rome was at this altar.
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