On day 67 we arrived by metro at the Vatican City, to visit what is really the head office of the Roman Catholic Church. After seeing outposts in the most remote parts of the world like Peru and Bolivia it was interesting to arrive at the seat of papal power.
On arrival we found ourselves in the line to visit the ‘cupola’, which allowed us to climb up into the dome of St Peter’s Basilica, which met our expectations as being the finest dome in Christendom. This huge dome is a mosaic masterpiece. After appreciating this grand artwork we then continued to climb up some very narrow, steep stairs until we arrived on the cupola at the top of the dome. The view looking down on St Peter’s Square was both impressive and familiar as we have previously seen pictures of it many times. After enjoying the 360 degree view we descended into the Basilica to walk its interior and to gaze upon classic art works such as Michelangelo’s ‘Pietra’ statue which is even more beautiful and emotive than we could ever have imagined.
We then undertook a hot and lengthy walk around the corner to visit the Vatican museums and of course the Sistine Chapel. By this stage we were quite exhausted, yet again the temperature had soared well into the 30s. We had expected a short walk but before entering we were ushered through the huge papal palace, which is full of the most incredible artwork collected by popes throughout the centuries; paintings, sculptures, embroidered rugs, tapestries and floor mosaics. After room after room of masterpieces we finally arrived at Michelangelo’s great masterpiece the Sistine Chapel. Although it was crowded with people and angry guards yelling “No photo!” and “Be quiet!” (this was ironic as they were the ones making a lot of the noise) the Sistine Chapel eclipsed all that we had previously seen. We found a seat along the edge of the room and stared, opened mouthed at the ceiling for at least 30 minutes; amazed at the size, the colour, the symmetry, the imagery and the way the whole fresco seemed to be both three dimensional and alive. We were overwhelmed by the beauty and timeless nature of such an extraordinary artwork.
Although we were thoroughly impressed by all that we had seen at the Vatican we are also left with nagging doubts. The medieval theology of ‘indulgences’ (i.e. paying for the salvation of yourself and your family, both past and present) provided much of the cash for the artistic treasure house that we had seen today. In the end it was the poor people of Europe who had paid for all of this, because of a wrong theology based on expediency rather than truth. The whole place reeked of power and one impression was hard to ignore – that the church demands its temporal place in the world of kings as an equal player. Having said that, the crowds (including us) still queue to see such splendour and wealth but in some way it is challenging to reconcile all this with the Gentle Nazarene and the faith of humble fishermen.
The Vatican represents the enigma of the church and its founder. Its strength may yet be its weakness and its weakness may yet be its strength.
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