Viva il Papa!

Yesterday the city of Cologne was jam packed, trains full, streets crowded. Close to a million people anxiously awaited the arrival of our holy father. At 4:30 he cruised up the Rhine river, crowds going wild. Some caught a great glance of Pope Benedict on his mighty boat, others saw him wave from his Volkswagon Popemobile. Today about 6,000 priest and seminarians had an audience with Pope Benidict. Some tell us stories of shaking his hand, all tell of the wonderful experience they had being inspired by their fellow seminarian and priest brothers.

The gorgeous cathedral “dom” of Cologne has been toured by most of our St. Louis crew. There the relics of the gifts of the Maji lay. It is a beautiful place to stop light a candle and say a prayer.

Many of our pilgrims participated in stations of the cross today. Jim Cavezle also known as Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ” spoke to thousands, followed by a showing of the movie. Some groups held their own stations service in their hotels, while others went to our host parish for a multilingual stations service.

Tonight we pack for our big adventure. Tomorrow we will start our day off with a mass with Archbishop Burke and Bishop Herman. Then we will head to Marienfeld, the place where we will spend the night anxiously awaiting the celebration of mass with Pope Benidict.