{"id":7295,"date":"2015-02-14T16:11:43","date_gmt":"2015-02-14T15:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/walks.friday.ie\/?p=7295"},"modified":"2025-05-21T10:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T09:31:12","slug":"pope-francis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/travel-tips\/pope-francis","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways Pope Francis Changed the Vatican and How You Can Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"color: #222222;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/walksofitaly.com\/blog\/vatican\/2013-papal-conclave-new-pope-sistine-chapel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pope Francis<\/a> has brought sweeping change to the Catholic Church in his first two years of office. The first pope from the Americas, first Jesuit pope and the first non-European pope\u00a0for over 1,000 years, his papacy has already shook up the Vatican. Through his actions and reforms, Pope Francis\u00a0has changed the dialogue of the papacy, the style of leadership\u00a0and the message of the Catholic Church, and he shows no signs of slowing down! Here are 5 of the biggest changes Pope Francis has made so far.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #222222;\">\n<div id=\"attachment_3756\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/view-of-Basilica-di-San-Pietro-nightVatican-City-in-Rome-Italy.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3756\" class=\"wp-image-3756\" src=\"http:\/\/walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/view-of-Basilica-di-San-Pietro-nightVatican-City-in-Rome-Italy.jpg\" alt=\"The new pope is chosen in 2013 conclave\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/view-of-Basilica-di-San-Pietro-nightVatican-City-in-Rome-Italy.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/view-of-Basilica-di-San-Pietro-nightVatican-City-in-Rome-Italy-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3756\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You can see Pope Francis in the piazza of St. Peter&#8217;s Basilica every Wednesday.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_80 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/travel-tips\/pope-francis\/#Yes_to_the_poor\" >Yes to\u00a0the poor<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/travel-tips\/pope-francis\/#Yes_to_science\" >Yes to science<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/travel-tips\/pope-francis\/#Yes_to_inclusiveness\" >Yes to inclusiveness<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/travel-tips\/pope-francis\/#Yes_to_diversity\" >Yes to diversity<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/travel-tips\/pope-francis\/#Yes_to_change_from_the_top_down\" >Yes to change, from the top down<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/travel-tips\/pope-francis\/#So_how_can_I_see_the_Pope\" >So, how can I see the Pope?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"color: #222222;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Yes_to_the_poor\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yes to\u00a0the poor<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pope Francis chose his name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, as a reminder to never forget the poor and a sign of his commitment and concern for the well being of the poor. As a result, he immediately eschewed luxury in favor of a more\u00a0humble and collegial\u00a0approach to his papacy. On the night of his election he returned back to the hotel on the bus with the other cardinals, rather than in the papal car and he decided against living in the Apostolic Palace, living instead in a Vatican guest house. These are things anyone can do, but that only he has done so far \u2013 a visual sign of his ideals and sympathy for the poor.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Yes_to_science\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yes to science<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">From an institution that once claimed Galileo Galilei a heretic, now comes a very scientific view of the start of our universe, shocking creationists in the process. Last October Pope Francis said that he and the church support the Bing Bang Theory, stating\u00a0that God is\u00a0not a magician with a &#8220;magic wand.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #202022;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Big Bang Theory, the Pope said, &#8220;does not contradict the creative intervention of God&#8230;On the contrary, it requires it.&#8221; For him, science\u00a0answers &#8220;how&#8221; and religion focuses on the\u00a0&#8220;why.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Yes_to_inclusiveness\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yes to inclusiveness<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Despite a bitterly divided meeting of Catholic Bishops called upon by Pope Francis, the Catholic Church ultimately did open its doors a bit more to homosexuals. While gay marriage is\u00a0still adamantly ruled out, the meeting signified a more open\u00a0approach to homosexual families, declaring\u00a0that gays be &#8220;welcomed with respect and delicacy.&#8221; A\u00a0separate message from the bishops delivered to Christian families said: &#8220;Christ wanted his church to be a house with the door always open to welcome everyone, without excluding anyone.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;Personally I would have been very worried and saddened if there hadn&#8217;t been these &#8230; animated discussions &#8230; or if everyone had been in agreement or silent in a false and acquiescent peace,&#8221; Francis said after the vote, according to CBS News.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Though some say it&#8217;s just a small step in a long path, Pope Francis&#8217; efforts prove his goal of bringing\u00a0openness and dialogue back into the Catholic Church.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Yes_to_diversity\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yes to diversity<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pope Francis\u00a0appointed\u00a020 new cardinals from all over the world, changing the face of the Catholic Church \u2013 literally as well as figuratively. The new cardinals from places like Tonga, Myanmar and Colombia, represent large swatches of today&#8217;s Christians and add\u00a0a plurality of voices in the ever-homogeneous Vatican City.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;There\u2019s almost nothing any pope ever does that\u2019s as consequential to shaping culture in the Church as naming its senior leadership, and cardinals are the most important papal selections of all,&#8221; writes <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/cruxnow.com\/church\/2015\/11\/pope-francis-says-catholics-must-be-open-to-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Crux Now<\/a>, a publication covering all things Catholic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Though it&#8217;s unclear exactly what changes this decision will cause,\u00a0it is clear that Pope Francis isn&#8217;t content with the old status quo and is ready to open the church up to the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Yes_to_change_from_the_top_down\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yes to change, from the top down<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Perhaps most notably, Pope Francis has shaken up the Vatican by&#8230;. well, legitimately shaking up the Vatican. He has focused on imposing fiscal discipline in the city-state\u00a0by creating a new Secretariat for the Economy. He abolished\u00a0the bonuses paid to Vatican employees after\u00a0the election of a new pope, donating the money to charity instead and also cut out the 25,000 euro annual bonus paid to cardinals on the\u00a0Board of Supervisors for the\u00a0Vatican bank.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He has also actively sought to reform the Roman Curia, the central governing body the Pope uses to\u00a0conduct the business of the entire Catholic Church, both structurally and spiritually. Before Christmas he delivered a message to the Curia asking the members to examine themselves and ask forgiveness for a variety of\u00a0sins he listed, including feelings of superiority, hoarding money, lusting for power and contributing in the\u00a0damaging effects of gossip.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"So_how_can_I_see_the_Pope\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, how can I see the Pope?<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_7233\" style=\"width: 525px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/14749159522_5a004e3f76_b.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7233\" class=\"wp-image-7233 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/14749159522_5a004e3f76_b.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Heribert Pohl\" width=\"515\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7233\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There are 6,000 seats for the Papal Audiences. Photo by Heribert Pohl<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Papal Audiences are held every Wednesday as long as the Pope is in Rome. There, visitors can see the Pope and receive the Papal Blessing.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #222222;\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the summers the Papal Audiences are held in St. Peter&#8217;s Square to accommodate the large crowds. You can <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.papalaudience.org\/tickets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">order a ticket ahead <\/a>to be sure to get a seat, but the order is still first come first serve, so you&#8217;ll need to arrive early for the best seats. We suggest to get there when Security opens: from 8 to 8:30 a.m. The audience starts at 10:30 a.m. (in summertime it may start at 10:00 instead to avoid the heat) and it usually lasts an hour to an hour and a half. Throughout the winter or in bad weather, the audiences are held in the Paul VI Audience Hall. To get there you&#8217;ll have to\u00a0go through security at the Petriano Entrance, just on the other side of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica\u2019s left colonnade to enter the Vatican &#8211; for details see the official\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.papalaudience.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Papal Audience website<\/a>,<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #666666;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Another chance to see the Pope is on\u00a0Sundays at noon when he is in Rome. Then, he comes to the window of his apartment overlooking St. Peter&#8217;s Square to give a short speech and a blessing to the crowds below. The event usually lasts around 20 minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Wear respectful clothes to the Papal Audience. Shoulders should be covered and shorts and skirts should fall at the knee. If not, you risk being turned away by security to respect the sacredness of the place. The Papal Audience is often a beautiful and culturally significant event, and a great opportunity for any Catholics (or even non-Catholics)\u00a0who want to see the\u00a0Pope responsible for such sweeping change in such an ancient institution.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you&#8217;re interested in visiting the Vatican during your time in Rome, check out our <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/walksofitaly.com\/vatican-tours\/pristine-sistine-chapel-tour\">Pristine Sistine Chapel tour<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; getting you inside the <a href=\"https:\/\/walksofitaly.com\/blog\/sicily-tours\/mt-etna-tours\"><strong>Vatican Museums<\/strong><\/a> and Sistine Chapel before general opening time! or join\u00a0our most exclusive experience:\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/vatican-tours\/key-masters-tour-sistine-chapel-vatican-museums\/\">VIP Vatican Key Master\u2019s Tour: Unlock the Sistine Chapel<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0where you\u2019ll have the Vatican Museums to yourself for two full hours as you enter with Key Master before dawn.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pope Francis has brought sweeping change to the Catholic Church in his first two years of office. The first pope from the Americas, first Jesuit pope and the first non-European pope\u00a0for over 1,000 years, his papacy has already shook up the Vatican. Through his actions and reforms, Pope Francis\u00a0has changed the dialogue of the papacy, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":3756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19,211],"ppma_author":[161],"class_list":["post-7295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-tips","tag-vatican","tag-vatican-city"],"authors":[{"term_id":161,"user_id":40,"is_guest":0,"slug":"ginamussio","display_name":"Gina Mussio","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d9497ce1b0417babd82886ad23b18998?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Mussio","first_name":"Gina","job_title":"","description":"Gina is a Midwesterner living in Lombardy, Italy where she writes about Italian culture, travel and food. She is a bilingual primary school teacher by day, forever interested in developing cross-culture communication skills across languages. Gina loves touring Italy's beautiful and tiny borghi with her family and exploring Italy's culture through its culinary history."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7295"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22236,"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7295\/revisions\/22236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7295"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walksofitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=7295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}