Pope Leo XIV embraces his brother after the first mass
Pope Leo XIV chatted with his brother after his inauguration mass in the Vatican city.
A long-standing pilgrimage to the Catholic Church across Italy could not be made in a more timely manner for a group of Connecticut residents who have arrived as the world lamented the loss of Pope Francis and were eagerly waiting for the identity of a new pope.
For Bobby Hanisek, a lifelong Catholic in Waterbury, Connecticut, the words failed to describe the opportunity to visit the Vatican in Italy and other sacred places, but many people from around the world took part in prayer.
She compared it to hearing it for years as a child and then finally visiting Disneyland as an adult. “As a Catholic, it’s been expanded for this trip,” said Hanisek, 76, after the group returned to the US.
“We didn’t actually see the smoke, the new pope, the feeling of being there, but it was in everyone’s minds. It was we’re home,” she said. “The fact that it was American was just overwhelming.”
They were in Rome, but were unable to go to the Cathedral to announce Cardinal Robert Francis Prebble as Pope.
Father Patrick Kane, the young priest who organized the trip, was able to see him step into the balcony of St. Peter’s Cathedral. He was also able to attend Pope Francis’ funeral. Kane, 39, is an assistant at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Concept of Waterbury, and told USA Today he remains amazed and humbled by the opportunity.
The trip was under work for two years and was set to coincide with the Vatican Jubilee, a tradition that takes place every 25 years. Kane had planned to fly to Rome before the tour participants and attend the canoeing of teenage sports fan Carlo Acotis as Pope Francis’ saint.
Instead, his trip turned into something very different “in a very blessed way,” he said. “I was able to visit (Pope Francis) while lying in the province in front of the main altar of St. Peter. I said a prayer in front of his body.”
After a trip to visit the ruins of Capri, San Giovanni Rotondo and Pompeii, the group returned to Rome. Bobby Honeysick’s husband, Greg Honeysek, was on the farewell dinner bus “when all the people’s phones started to explode.” The white smoke was curled up into the sky from the chimney of Sistine Chapel.
Kane can travel a faster solo, so the group encouraged him to jump off the bus and take a taxi to the Vatican, trying to get a glimpse of the new Pope from the balcony.
“I managed to flag the taxi, but they brought me quite close, but that was a mess,” Kane said. He made it in St. Peter’s Square and was surprised to be caught up next to another priest from the Connecticut parish.
“I think that was meant,” he said. “I stood with him and the two seminaries and we were there to see everything.”
Kane felt excited, but he said, as Pope Leo had been announced. The priests of the group recognized his name and knew that the Pope was from America.
“It was obvious he was moved when he came out,” Kane said. “For us, it’s not about who was elected, it’s about the Pope, and who he is as a leader… it’s not about the person himself, it’s about the love of that role.”
Vatican bird
The chimney, built to send signals from the Pope Conclave, was screened occasionally by the Seagulls, and helped Greg Hanisek do small birdwatches at the Vatican.
He shares a bird checklist of seen on eBird, a platform run by Cornell University Labs where birders can share bird observations, and identifies the seagull that has become famous as yellow seagulls. The seagull was photographed perched on a statue, confronted the drone and checked out the chimney.
After studying field guides for European birds and range maps for several months before departing for Italy, Hanisek was undoubtedly the kind of seagull they were.
Honeysek, a retired journalist who writes the Waterbury Republican American nature column, said yellow seagulls are common in the area. According to Cornell’s All About Birds website, the large bird’s wing span is almost 5 feet and weighs about 2.5 pounds.
He is an avid birder, but on this trip, Honeysek was pleased to squeeze birdwatching in a busy schedule that visits some of Italy’s most sacred churches.
However, Honeysek experienced his own moving experience on his ferry trip. This included stopping at Positano and Amalfi when he was able to find four Yelkouan Shearwaters, a species of seabird species, he said. “That’s not a bird you’re planning to go anywhere other than the Mediterranean.”
USA Today’s national correspondent, Dinah Voyles Pulver, covers climate change, weather, the environment and other news. Contact her at dpulver @usatoday.com or @dinahvp.
