Hmmm—several good questions. Don’t mind you asking at all because I ask lots of questions myself.

I’m not Catholic. Or rather, I should say I am a quasi-Catholic because I am Italian and my family has roots in the Roman Catholic church. Also, I grew up next door to a Catholic family and actually went to church with them quite a bit, especially when my parents were busy with sick children, so there is a lot of Catholic traditions in my background through my friends and family. I also still attend Catholic bible studies and church on occasion with friends, although I belong to a non-denominational Protestant church.

When I was at St. Peter’s Square, it was while John Paul was still pope and I really love him. He was a very fatherly man, full of compassion, grace, and humility. In Latin/Italian, the word for pope is “Papa”. I’m not sure how it came to be Pope in English because that sounds so much more formal than the affectionate “Papa”. But I would have liked to have seen John Paul while I was at St. Peter’s since I admire him and feel affection for him. I guess there also is a certain amount of tradition to watching for the papa at St. Peter’s Square, but I really just liked the man.

St. Peter’s basilica and square was designed by Michelangelo (he of the Sistine Chapel). The square was originally an actual square, but Pope Alexander VII commissioned Bernini to revamp it, so St. Peter’s square at that time became a circular piazza with a trapezoidal entrance that spills out onto the Via della Conciliazione. I’m not even sure why it is called “St. Peter’s Square” in English because the Vatican refer to it as “Piazza San Pietro” or the “Plaza of St. Peter”. Bernini had a lot of space constraints going into the project—there are a lot of buildings surrounding the piazza that were already there and had to be taken into account. He employed many elements of ancient Greece and Rome in the design of the collonade that embraces the piazza. This colonnade has 60-feet-tall Doric columns four-deep. Along the roof are over 100 white marble statues facing into the piazza. These are of various popes and saints and, if you understand symbolism, you can probably figure out the identity of each one. I believe Bernini had his students and apprentices make these. He also kept at the center an obelisk that the emporer Caligula brought back from Egypt. This obelisk was in Caligula’s circus, which later became Nero’s circus, where the apostle Peter was crucified along with a few thousand other nameless souls, some of whom were also used as human torches. The ancient location of Nero’s circus is where St. Peter’s basilica was built, originally in 324, but that version kind of collapsed and they kept expanding and ultimately rebuilding until we have what we see today.

But what is it like? Even if you are not Catholic, it is well worth seeing the piazza and the basilica for the sheer beauty of the architecture. In addition, there is an amazing view of the piazza and the city from the top of the dome. It was much larger than I expected it to be or than it seemed to me when I saw it in photographs and on television. I have heard it can hold upwards of 300,000 and I don’t doubt that at all.