Pope Francesco!

Just a few hours after I wrote my last blog where I said I wasn't expecting to see white smoke from the Vatican tonight, we have a new pope! I walked over to St. Peter's around 6:15 and stopped for gelato on the way, expecting to wait around in St. Peter's, see black smoke, and turn around. Last night, we didn't see smoke until about 7:45, but around 7:15 everybody turned to the screen. At first it looked kind of gray, but then it was obviously white and everybody started screaming and cheering and rushing to the front of the square. It was then that St. Peter's started to fill up as people from all over the city rushed to see the new pope make his first public experience. It took almost an hour for everybody to be ready for him to come out, but it was such an amazing experience!

First, someone came out and announced that there had been a successful vote and gave us the name of the newly-elected pope... Pope Francesco, formerly Jorge Mario Bergolio, of Argentina! How exciting!

It stopped drizzling right before he came out to address the crowd, which was nice because it got everybody to put their umbrellas down so we could see better. I couldn't understand all of what he was saying because he spoke in Italian, but people around me were laughing so he must have been funny!

While we were waiting, members of the Swiss Guard processed out to the front of the Basilica basically right in front of me, so that was cool.

Once he finished speaking, he told all of us good night, and then came the mad dash to the exit. One thing the Vatican does not understand: crowd control. They wouldn't open the rest of the gates, so we were all trying to exit through one tiny little opening in the gate out of the square. But I eventually made it out and back to my apartment, where I am still in shock! I was not expecting to get to witness this tonight... I thought for sure it would happen this weekend while I'm gone.

Sitting back at my apartment, I am still in shock that I got to witness something like this! Not only that, but I get to see the new pope at Easter mass in a few weeks. And I'm going to Germany tomorrow to see some good family friends, and my mom is coming to visit next week. I actually cannot believe my life right now.