Welcome to Vatican City State!

Vatican City State, one of the smallest countries on earth. It is mostly mentioned in combination with the Pope but has a lot more to offer. As I come from Luxembourg, I can say that the Vatican City State is a small country even Luxembourg is bigger. Especially for Christians, visiting the Vatican City is really important.

The Vatican City State is an enclave within the city of Rome. It is really small with only an area of 44 hectares (110 ares) and so it is the smallest internationally recognized independent state in the world. It also only has a population 842 habitants. The person for whom it is basically famous is at the same time also the one who rules the Vatican City State: the Pope. The language which is spoken is Italian, but also Latin, as this is the old language of the Christians. Since 1984, the whole Vatican City State is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

If you’re planing a trip to Rome, be sure to have one day where you can visit the Vatican City State, because it’s unique! You can easily visit everything in one day.

General Audience with the Pope

An audience is a formal meeting between a head of state and another person. The ones with the Pope are really famous and differently because he will bless you. Therefore, there are general audiences with the Pope, where the whole St. Peter’s Square is full of people and the Pope will drive through the corridors.

The current pope in 2015 is Pope Francis (in Italian Papa Francesco) and his papacy began on the 13th March 2013. It is the 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and he’s not really like all the other ones. His humility and his concern for the poor people makes him famous. Pope Francis refuses to live in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace and prefers to stay in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse. Furthermore, he always wears more simple clothes and he also refuses the traditional papal mozzetta cape, he chose silver instead of gold for his piscatory ring and he don’t use the papa mobile, which is really stressful for his bodyguards. But basically, he maintains that the church should be more open and welcoming.

When you’re interested in the General Audience of the Pope Francis, you’ll have to book your tickets in advance via Internet. I booked them on the pilgrim center in Rome. It is a German site, so maybe you have to look for your countries pilgrim center.

The audience is normally on a Wednesday and starts at 9h15. If you want to have a good place to sit and to see also the Pope, you have to be very early. It is really crazy how many people just want to see the Pope. We were there are 7 am, but there were already like a few hundred of people just waiting for the gates to open. Normally the St. Peter’s Square is a public place, but when there is an audience, everything is closed and you only can enter by showing your card and passing the security check.

Once you’re on the St. Peter’s Square, you can chose freely your seats. Most of the people wanted to sit very close to the tribune, but we chose to sit a little bit farther but very close to a corridor where the Pope will drive by. So we were sitting perfectly! Be aware of people who want to press forward. It’s always the same story: those who come last, will be the ones with the best places.

Everything starts by the drive by of the Pope through all the different corridors. Whenever he sees a little child, he will stop, hold it in his arms and bless it. Parents literarily throw their children on him, just that they’re getting blessed by the Pope. People are really going crazy when he approaches. Then he will start the audience. There are bishops from all over the world who will speak to him in their languages and then the Pope will answer in Italian an the bishop will translate this. This audience lasts for about an hour and afterwards the pope will bless all the people and their religious belongings. Then everything slowly calms down.

Whenever you’re in Rome and a General Audience is given, be sure to attend one because it is a unique opportunity to meet the Pope.

St. Peter’s Basilica

The full name of the St. Peter’s Basilica is The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican and it is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture. One of its designers was of course Michelangelo. It’s funny because the St. Peter’s Basilica is one of the largest churches in the world, and it is standing in one of the smallest countries in the world. It was built in 1626 and it is 136,5 meters (448,1 ft) high.

Whenever you want to enter the St. Peter’s Basilica, you cannot buy your tickets online. I was told to be there around 8 o’clock in the morning because afterwards, there are thousands of people waiting to enter the Basilica. In can confirm that people are waiting in in a queue, which went all around the St. Peter’s Square. It is really crazy how people wait about 2 to 3 hours to visit this unique place.

We were there around 7.45 and there were only like 15 people waiting to get inside. The first thing we did, was to buy the ticket up to the cupola of the Basilica. It is really difficult to get up, because everything is so small and tight. But the view from above is really amazing. You can literally see a whole country.

After visiting the cupola, we bought the tickets to get inside the Basilica. As it is one of the largest churches in the world, it is absolutely amazing. Inside, there are many tombs of popes, including Pope John Paul II. You can even go underneath the Basilica. There are again more tombs of popes and other holy personalities.

As you can see, it is absolutely worth it to get up early and to visit this amazing holy place in the Vatican City State. The early birth catches the worm!

St. Peter’s Square

The St. Peter’s Square is the most famous place in the Vatican City State. In the middle of the square is standing a huge Egyptian obelisk, which was erected in 1586. When the Pope holds his audience, the whole St. Peter’s Square is full with people, you can’t imagine how many people are waiting and listening to the Pope.

When there is a General Audience, the whole St. Peter’s Square is closed for public and there are many chairs for the guests. Only people with an entrance ticket get in and also only after being checked by the security people. But normally, it is accessible for everyone and a normal square.

Vatican Museum

The tickets to the Vatican museums contained also a ticket to the Sistine Chapel. So I booked the tickets online and I can tell you that is was absolutely worth it. We didn’t have to wait one second. We could pass a whole line of at least 50 people waiting outside to get in. This saved us really a lot of time.

The Vatican Museum hosts collections of the Popes and Catholic Chruch throughout the centuries. It was founded in the early 16th century by Pope Julius II. With 54 galleries, the Sistine Chapel and 5,5 million visitors in 2013, it is the 5th most visited art museum in the world.

The museum itself is really interesting with all the art collections of the Catholic Church and the papacy. It includes several of the most important masterpieces of the Renaissance art works in the world but also well-known Roman sculptures. This means in numbers that  that the museum contains around 70.000 works of which around 20.000 are displayed. There are 640 people employed only in the museum.

At the end you will visit the Sistine Chapel with the amazing art of Michelangelo. You were not allowed to take pictures of this and you have to respect this. Some people still take their smartphone out and take a picture, even with flash! Something that I cannot understand.

Have you ever been to the Vatican City State and part of a general audience with the Pope?

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