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Siena student raced for first look at pope While many visitors to Rome last month boasted of front-row peeks of the first appearance of Pope Benedict XVI, Amanda Keeler's view was particularly impressive. "I live about three blocks from the Vatican," said the junior at Siena College in Loudonville who spent last semester in Italy studying art history. She returned to Albany just last week. "The walk to [St. Peter's Square] is about three minutes. We definitely became part of the Vatican crowd in the weeks past." The night before funeral of Pope John Paul II, for example, Ms. Keeler struggled to get home through human roadblocks caused by millions of pilgrims and through five checkpoints set up around the Vatican by the Italian government to ensure security. Crowds for popes Ms. Keeler and her roommates made up fruit trays for the people staying right outside her doorway: a group of Italian soldiers manning a checkpoint and a gaggle of Polish students camped on the sidewalk. "It was great to see them, and how much this one man affected so many different people, the young and the old," she told The Evangelist. Ms. Keeler, who grew up in Sand Lake, had a feeling that the conclave to elect a new pope wasn't going to last for too long and headed up to the Vatican around noon on Monday, April 18. But no one was chosen that day. White smoke As she studied for her final exams the next day, April 19, Miss Keeler received a text message on her cell phone that read "fumata bianca" -- "white smoke." Immediately, all studies were forgotten as she and her classmates raced towards St. Peter's Square. "This was something else," she recalled. "I stopped for a moment and looked behind me, and there were just hundreds and hundreds behind me, all running. I got to about the middle of the Square and could not go any farther." Ms. Keeler and her three roommates waited as the bells began to ring and five men came to the edge of the balcony, unfurling a large banner. First glimpse Meanwhile, she reported, people kept on streaming into St. Peter's Square, which filled up "in minutes. The crowd of people cheered and were so happy -- when, just in the last week, they had been mourning the loss of another life. Then, of course, Benedetto XVI was introduced. It was breathtaking. I had the chills and maybe even a tear. It was just very emotional." From her vantage point, she said his first speech "seemed more personal and like he wanted to connect to just more than the Italian people. "I am not the most religious person, but being there changed me. There were just so many people that came to see this it was remarkable. This experience is definitely one of the most powerful and meaningful moments of my life." (5/5/05) |