Day 19 - Sant'Alfonso di Liguori, Santa Prassede, Centro Aletti, Pontifical Council for Social Commuications

Day 19 was somewhat of a patchwork day. Class in the morning was brief as we had places to be early on in the day.

Our first stop was to Sant'Alfonso di Liguori, a relatively small church run by the Redemptionists. This is one of the very few churches of Roman Neo-Gothic architecture (with Santa Maria sopra Minerva being the only real Gothic church in Rome).

This was a quick stop as we were early for our scheduled meeting.

We ducked into the Basilica of Santa Prassede after. Today was an art day, and this particular basilica is the only mosaic-only church in Rome. All other churches in Rome that have mosaics also have some form of painting elsewhere in the church. Santa Prassede is also special in regards to martyrs and early Christian burials; Pope Pascal I had ordered, during the time of his papacy, the bones of Christians held in the Roman catacombs to be moved into this church for protection.

This church also holds the Column of the Flagellation, the pillar upon which Jesus was traditionally scourged. The pillar was brought back from the Holy Land by St. Helena, Constantine's mother (the relics of whom I photographed in Santa Maria in Trastevere).

Our destination for the morning was the Centro Aletti, a pontifical institute of artists and religious who work at creating Christian mosaics for churches and chapels worldwide. This group of people is responsible for the mosaics at the Pontifical Irish College, a chapel in the Vatican, and other places around the world. They run quite an operation, and the whole thing is like a well oiled machine. When visiting, they were working on a particular piece for a church in Brazil of the pietà (Mary holding the body of Jesus following His removal from the cross).

We then went to lunch and had a bit of a break. Following the break, we reconvened for more class., where we focused on the structure of various Vatican offices and congregations. This was all in preparation for the afternoon's event.

We took transportation down near the Vatican to a Vatican extra-territorial building holding many of the offices of pontifical councils. We rode the elevator to the third floor and entered the offices of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. This council is responsible for all of the social media used in the Vatican, as well as the reconciling of Vatican news, radio, and TV, and the newly created "Pope-App". This office also is responsible for the creation of the Pope's various social networking accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Flickr.

Conference room where we gathered at the office of the pontifical council

Once settled, we were greeted by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, the President of the council who was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. For an older gentleman, he was very well versed in social media and how it's used and how the Vatican uses it (as he should be, I suppose). He spoke at length about what the council does for the Vatican and then he turned over the reins to an American gentleman who went into further detail on the workings of the pontifical council.

It was very interesting to see the inside of a Vatican office. So often, when people think of Vatican City or the Holy See, they picture St. Peters Basilica. Few people consider the fact that the Vatican, like any other nation state, requires various offices to keep it afloat. The interesting factoid of the day is that there are many, many different offices in the Vatican, but all but one are outside the walls of Vatican City on extra-territorial land. The only Vatican office on the grounds of Vatican City is the Office of the Secretary of State. The workings of this little state are truly fascinating.

After our meeting, most of the group went to a pub to watch the US/Germany World Cup game. I went back to the villa for a quick shower and sat in the courtyard of the college for some conversation with Fr. Bergin and Fr. Paris. Interestingly enough, just as we were leaving the Vatican offices, Fr. Bergin received a call from the Vatican Secretary of State inviting him to come to the Vatican tomorrow to concelebrate Mass with Francis. He had run off quite unexpectedly after we finished our meeting so I only found out when I caught him outside the college.

With that exciting news, we walked down to dinner where we met up with the rest of the team. Dinner was absolutely fantastic and fulfilling in every way. The dinner was also a nice sendoff for Fr. Paris, who will be leaving us tomorrow for France in the morning. We will surely miss him.

Tomorrow, we will meet up with Fr. Bergin at the Vatican to tour the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel.

Thus ends the 19th day.