Blaze Writer Takes You to The Vatican During Cardinals Ceremony…Along With Exclusive Glenn Beck Stories
- Posted on February 21, 2012 at 10:38am by
Mike Opelka
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So I’m sitting inside the Vatican Museum, having lunch with Glenn Beck, his wife and the new Cardinals just appointed by Pope Benedict…
Glenn and Tania Beck lunching with the new Cardinals in the Vatican.
Wait, what? A Blaze reporter sitting inside the Vatican, lunching with the new Cardinals? That’s correct.
This weekend, I was chosen to be part of a secret mission that took Glenn Beck and a select group of Mercury Radio Arts employees to Rome and Greece. Before we get to the luncheon, let me share the experience of the ceremony where the Pope elevates Archbishops to the Consistory (the conclave that will elect the next Pope).
The Golden Ticket to the Pope's Consistory.
It’s rare that the city of Rome buzzes on a weekend morning. This Saturday was different, because this morning the Pope was consecrating twenty-two new Cardinals. Other than being elected Pope, becoming a Cardinal is the highest honor the Catholic Church can bestow upon a living member of its clergy. This past Saturday, 22 men received such an honor.
The crush of media, clergy and family members from all around the world would overwhelm the Vatican. Yellow ticket holders were told to be at St. Peter’s Square by 9am for a 9:30 start.
Thousands of Pilgrims swarm Vatican Cardinal Consistory.
The smart pilgrims got there at 7:30 and packed the cathedral. We arrived as instructed, only to discover there was no room left inside.
(It should be noted that the V.I.P. blue ticket holders (Glenn and his wife) had no such problem. They just flashed their ducats and were escorted inside with almost no wait.)
Despite being relegated to sitting outside, we still had to fight a determined crowd of the faithful that included some very well-organized groups of nuns intent on getting a good seat near the two jumbo-trons erected for viewing the ceremony.
Pilgrims from all over the globe filled St. Peter's Square
One guest with a red hat caught my eye and I had to take a snapshot of her. (She turned out to be an architect from New York City.)
The Cardinals were not the only ones wearing red hats.
At 10:20am, the bells of St. Peter’s pealed, alerting Rome that the start of the ceremony was near. Promptly at 10:30 the video screens came to life with shots from inside the packed basilica.
The cameras panned across the 22 birettas (tri-cornered red caps) and gold rings waiting to be distributed by Pope Benedict.
A trumpeter sounded the alert that the Pope had arrived and the procession down the long aisle of St. Peter’s had begun. At the age of 84, Benedict is not a spry man, and instead of walking to the altar, the Holy Father was wheeled along on a small platform.
Arriving at the front of the massive basilica, the Pope briefly knelt in prayer before the faithful. He was then assisted in climbing the winding staircase to the top level of the altar and took his place in a beautiful throne-like chair.
The ceremony was performed in Latin, complete with beautifully sung Gregorian Chants.
One by one, the new Cardinals were called before the Pope and given their new headgear, rings and scrolls marking their consecration.
In just over an hour, the Holy Father had elevated status of 22 archbishops to that of Cardinal. These men will be vital in the selection of the next Pope.
We exited the Vatican, but the day had just begun.
Glenn and Tania Beck leave the ceremony and walk to lunch with the new Cardinals.
Leaving the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica, Glenn and his wife surprised me with a ticket to the very special luncheon honoring the new Cardinals. And this was a luncheon not held at some catering hall in Rome. No sir. This very private affair was being held inside the Vatican Museum.
Inside the Vatican Museum
You did not have look far to see just how special this event was going to be.
Cardinals, new and old share a private lunch inside the Vatican Museum.
Needless to say, the food was as spectacular as the surroundings.
Vatican luncheon started off with a tasty salad.
Wait a second. Before we dive into the delightful cuisine, a prayer of thanks.
Nuns standing in prayer before we share a lunch with the new Cardinals.
The surroundings, the food and especially the company could be accurately described as “divinely inspired.”
Another member of the Clean Plate Club.
If you are wondering how I ended up getting the nod for this primo assignment, it all goes back to 1989 and a Christmas Eve visit to the Vatican by Mr. Beck and me.
Twenty-three years earlier, Glenn and I were together in Rome over Christmas break. We were both working in morning radio, in different cities. Each year, Beck would dedicate a special series of holiday broadcasts to the American troops serving around the world. This year, he was set up on the aircraft carrier USS Bob Hope. I joined him in Rome for a week.
At the time, Glenn and I both qualified as “lapsed Catholics” and he was also in the middle of his sort of out-of-control phase. We spent much of our daylight hours seeing the sights of Rome.
Of course, we saw the Coliseum, the Vatican, the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, Scala Santa and countless churches.
And at night, we drank and ate and drank. Every night.
On Christmas Eve, we were celebrating with a great deal of food and wine and we started feeling homesick. I looked at Glenn and slurred something along the lines of, “We should go to Midnight Mass at the Vatican!” Glenn agreed and within minutes we were pulling up to Vatican City. The crowds were lined up outside St. Peter’s, and it was only 9pm. We also noticed that everyone in line was holding tickets and there were large signs reading, “No ticket, no entrance.”
Not easily discouraged, we worked the long lines in search of “Extra tickets? Who’s got extra tickets?” An American serviceman suggested that we start knocking on doors at the convents adjacent to St. Peter’s. Off we went. In less than fifteen minutes, using bad high school Spanish I managed to finesse a pair of tickets into the Mass.
Glenn and I piled into the massive cathedral and grabbed two seats on the aisle. Two hours later, Pope John Paul II passed by and blessed us during the opening processional. At the time we joked that attending Midnight Mass in the Vatican on Christmas Eve and getting a “drive-by blessing” from the Pope was probably our Get Out Of Hell Free card. It wasn’t.
However, our attendance was not overlooked.
The next day I called home to Chicago to share the exciting news with my very Catholic parents. Thanks to a seven hour time difference, mom and dad were regular watchers of Midnight Mass from the Vatican and had seen us standing as the TV cameras followed the the Pope up the aisle. My father’s only comment: “Would it have killed you to wear a tie to the Vatican?”
This trip, I was much better prepared.
Glenn and I wore ties to the Vatican for this visit.
Since the 1989 trip, I have become attentive to my faith. (I still have miles to go to.) My wife and I were married in the Catholic Church in 1992 with Glenn standing beside me as my best man.
Returning to the Vatican over twenty years after that first visit has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. And I feel compelled to admit being overwhelmed to the point feeling it rain on my face more than once during our luncheon. It won’t be another 22 years before I get back to Rome.
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Comments (77)
joyceram
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 2:56pmThanks so much for this article and the photos. It is good to see Glenn and his family/staff demonstrating tolerance, refinement and faith as they work. A calm presence of faith on behalf of us all is reassuring. May Heavenly Father bless us all in our assigned tasks during this difficult time. The Savior’s Arm is stretched out over those who love Him.
Report Post »Cause4Liberty
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 3:01pmPass the LooT! Welcome Brothers and Sisters to the Global edition of the Pass the LooT Club! We welcome all purchases and transactions for our sponsors, be sure to subscribed to our lastest GBTV! Pass the LOOT!
Meanwhile, in THEIR OWN words! “You either embrace the constitution or shed the constitution, and Ron Paul is the closest to OUR FOUNDERS, uhh… out of anyone… uhhh…up there” – GB
EVIDENCE @1:50: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh48angYqoY
“In Their OWN words, In Their OWN words……” – GB
Female
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:57pmCongrats, on all of your spiritual journeys. Reads that the first time you provided the tickets, and Glenn full circle provided you with a ticket…It must have been awesome for your parents to see their little prodigal sitting there on Christmas Eve! And to be given the opportunity and priviledge to correct the tie error. Heart warming and truly encouraging story.
BTW: For all you Mormon and Catholic bashers….you are making the same error and of the same spirit Jesus spoke of when the disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven:
“And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.” Luke 9: 54-55
Please be careful for your own souls sake, if you judge harshly whether correct or not, that same measure will be used on you. Remember to have a great BEattitude, be walking in the Fruit of the Spirit, and correction should be done in humility least the sin? over take: you first go privately, 2nd w/one witness, and 3rd publically. Really, since Jesus left there has not been one perfect theological correct person on earth, there are errors and heresies in every religion. Start giving the same grace to others you hope to receive or you will reap what you have sown: harsh judgement and place in hell you are pointing out for the Mormon or Catholic. LOVE!
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:36pmWHAT?
Report Post »They didn’t provide tickets in ENGLISH for Americans?
How DARE they!!
With all the genuflecting we do for illegal aliens: printing instruction manuals in Spanish and English, OPRIMA-ing (pressing) “el numero uno para espanol”, and printing ingredients in microscopic print so we can fit the spanish version on the label, etc.; I thought that was the new paradigm… everyone had to print everything for everyone in whatever language that person speaks.
Huh… guess I was WRONG !
So, the old saying IS true… “When in Rome…”
LOL
jp2feminist
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:06pmThank you for this wonderful post! Please tell Glenn that I am praying FIERCELY that he will come home to the Church. He won’t regret it. It is rich in Truth and Mercy.
Report Post »Mil Mom
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:09pmIn the Scriptures, THE CHURCH, Is the larger family of believers who‘ve accepted God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ. When Jesus died, the veil of the Temple was ripped from top to bottom to show, that there was no longer anything standing between man and his God, if he would accept that sacrifice just offered on the cross.
Report Post »The early church didn’t baptize in the name of a denomination, or a man, and Paul said “There is One Body, and One Spirit, even as ye are called IN ONE HOPE OF YOUR CALLING: ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM, ONE GOD, AND FATHER OF ALL, WHO IS ABOVE ALL, AND THROUGH ALL, AND IN YOU ALL..” (Ephes 4:4-6) I think this is what Glenn means when he says, “We are all Catholics.” Not that we all belong to the Catholic Church on earth, but that if we belong to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, we are all under assault from the world governance which loathes that God. When Glenn was turned to God, He came home to His Heavenly Father, the Church on earth, is only important, if they are NOT truly teaching those scriptures, or are intentionally turning people aside (as happens in most denominations when the devil sees the people coming to God, he sends in his imposters).
SilentReader
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:01pmInteresting accounting of Glenn’s past shenanigans, Mike. Glenn is never one to take half-measures! The pictures are great!
Keep up the good work, Glenn.
Report Post »greggo
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:01pmFor the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Report Post »A1955Rosie
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:55pmGreat story, thanks for the share.
Report Post »Caleb-Texas
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:46pmRight on Sugabee!
Report Post »danesix
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:42pmEnjoyed the account of the Consistory, but please, St. Peter’s is NOT a cathedral; the seat of the Bishop of Rome is St. John Lateran.
Report Post »Mike Opelka
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 2:17pmShould have been fixed by now… mea culpa.
Report Post »ZAP
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:27pmI don’t think Jesus would be there,he only had two pieces of clothes !
Report Post »BlackCrow
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:43pmGo crawl back under your bridge, troll.
Report Post »VicksVaporub
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:08pmGreat PR for the Scarlet Lady.
Report Post »Dudley Do-Right
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:25pmMay God Bless you and your families Glenn and Mike. Please come home Glenn.
Report Post »Kathy B
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 9:55amMy thoughts and sentiments exactly.
Report Post »veracity
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:20pmEnjoyed Mike Opelka personal article of years gone by……and to re-connect at the Vatican can be a spiritual sign. Being surrounded by Cardinals seasoned and newly appointed by Pope Benedict is like an Army of one true and apostolic Church. Remembering when young Catholics received the sacrament of Confirmation acknowledging that “we are now soldiers of Jesus Christ.” We must march on together and keep our faith alive. Thank you Glenn for all that you do.
Report Post »TOPOFTHEGAME
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:14pmThe catholic church is a country, it has it’s own flag, banks, police and sets on 106 acres and is involved in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation in the end times. Glenn be careful who you get in bed with the the near future.
Report Post »Sugabee
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:56pmBe careful how you portray your brothers and sisters in Christ. Speak only in love, and only what you know to be true. As one famous Catholic once said (and the name escapes me), 99% of the people who think they hate the Catholic Church are simply misinformed or misled.
Report Post »Koolkikiland
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:21pm@Sugabee – You’re thinking of Bishop Fulton Sheen who said, “There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church—which is, of course, quite a different thing.”
Report Post »Sugabee
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 2:01pmYes, I am!! Thanks for jogging my addled brain! :)
Report Post »conservativewoman
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:08pmI envy Glenn and Mike. I am a practicing Catholic teaching catechism to young Catholics, and would love to visit the Vatican and Rome, so I could share my experience with my students.
Report Post »janmil200
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:48amGlad you had a nice experience, Glenn. I hope these new cardinals will realize that they are the only ones who can free themselves from the trap of liberalism that they have allowed the Church to fall into.
Report Post »Freedom Keeper
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:31amGreat article Mike!
Report Post »Freedom Keeper
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:28amSTAND WITH US: http://oleglorynews.com/2012/02/20/breaking-glenn-becks-we-are-all-catholics-now-movement-goes-global/
Report Post »Sugabee
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:24amThanks for sharing your experience, Mike – very enlightening!
As for those of you who choose to be judgemental and bigoted in your replies, please take your nastiness elsewhere. Yes, “Iampraying4you”, I’m talking to you. I will say a prayer for YOU, that you become more charitable in your posts in the future, especially when the subject is the Catholic Church. As millions of mothers everywhere have said, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”.
Report Post »Miss Anne
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:18amI still don‘t understand why Glenn didn’t get to meet the Pope.
Report Post »Godfather.1
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:24amBecause the Pope has much more important business than to entertain his highness Glenn Beck.
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:37amThe fact that he got INSIDE is amazing enough. This doesn’t happen often and American Cardinals at that.
Report Post »DD313
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:08amThanks for including the information that birettas were hats. For a moment, I thought it was a typo, and you were talking about Berettas for the new cardinals.
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:34amBerettas for the new cardinals would be a more Old Testament.
Report Post »hillbillyinny
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:06amWelcome Home! And thanks for sharing both this visit and your first visit with Glenn. Sounds like God was listening years ago, to both of you!
Report Post »marthasusan40
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:03amThank you for sharing this amazing story. I too was a stand by Catholic, that was until I attended 8/28 in Washington DC…I was so happy in the story when you go a ticket inside….I am so happy to see Glenn getting the respect that he so well deserves. His quest to educate and enlighten is not over, but this is a great chapter. God Bless.
Report Post »KASHA
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:00amWelcome home, Mike! Thank you for a beautifully-written article. Great photos too!
Report Post »petraje
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 10:56amGood for you!! Wish I could have been there. Laus Deo!!
Report Post »angelcat
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 10:47amThanks for sharing the experience and congratulations on coming back to the fold of practicing Catholics. I envy your experience. I toured the Vatican several years ago and was awed by the experience.
Report Post »iampraying4u
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 10:57amthe catholic church is the best man made religion in the world
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:00amNow serving# 11983.
Report Post »rose-ellen
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:32amso why is Beck a mormon?how on earth can a catholic leave the church to become mormon?God works in mysterious ways i guess and if this newfound concern for the catholic church brings lapsed catholics and protestants back to the holy catholic church then all this contracetive controversy might be a good thing.
Report Post »thankfulness
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:33amThe Catholic Church Is Bible Based. And Catholics as well as Protestants basic belief is that Jesus is God and God is Love. That Christ came to earth for our sins and He died on the Cross and Rose again on the third day. Catholics read three passages of the Bible at every single mass and relive the last supper. Catholism is very much Bible based. They also include traditions that are mere reminders of the passages of the Bible. The Church is also about the community of living and the dead in communion. Thus communion is community. Catholic means universal. And the more that I read the Bible the more I understand the Church (I read it most nights) . The Church is Bible And Tradition. And the traditions can be explained by reading the Bible. That being said I respect protestants seeing that I was from a half Protestant half Catholic family. We are both ultimately on the same page when it comes to the overall belief on God. We do not worship saints or Mary we honor them. Just like we are told to honor our parents. Mary is the Mother of Jesus and therefore we recognize her as that and treat her as she is also our mother as well. We respect but do not worship her.
Report Post »Koolkikiland
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:37am@IAMPRAYING4U – No, actually it’s the best and only God man made religion in the world. . . namely by Jesus Christ himself. Sooner or later you’re gonna find that out.
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:39amWe are all praying for ‘ Iampraying4you ’. May you see the face of God.
samuelwcordrey
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:50amIf the blood of Christ is not enough to save nothing is.
Koolkikiland
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:01pm@Samuel – Who‘s saying the blood of Christ isn’t enough to save?
thankfulness
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:11pmI have to admit I do listen to Glenn Beck but I take most of what he says with grains of salt. What I do like about Beck is that he is resourceful and I do not ever take his word for it. I look at the resources. Some things seem to make sense. Some things do not. But that is true with all the people who give opinions. I like to fact check everyone who I listen to. Sometimes he is right sometimes he is wrong. But same could be said about me and just about everyone else on this board. We all are right about some things and wrong about other things.
Sugabee
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 12:29pm@Samuel: The Blood of Christ is salvation: “53Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54Whoever eats* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink”. The 6th Chapter of John is all about Holy Communion, which is also known as Mass. The first Mass was offered on Calvary. Both the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist derive from it. Because Calvary transcends time and space, it is present to us in the combination of the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Mass is not a “Fresh sacrifice” but is a “making present” of the one sacrifice. It is, in a sense, taking us to Calvary so that we are present at the one sacrifice.
Merrymix
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 12:15amThe Catholic Church was established in the year 33 AD by Jesus Christ. This is not a matter of dispute among those who have delved into It’s history. Even ANN LANDERS printed this in one of her columns when giving the dates of the origin of each religion.