All language subtitles for Inside The Vatican [1993]_EN

The power of the place is inescapable

and a long way from its humble origins
as a graveyard.

For nearly 2.000 years. its story has captured
the imagination of millions.

From here. a religious faith grew
to dominate the Western world.

Crusades were launched.
great inquisitions were convened.

governments made and broken.

lt is an accumulation of remarkable buildings
and art.

lt is the smallest sovereign nation.
and yet one of the most powerful.

lf it had a gross national product.
it would be measured not in money. but in souls.

lts leader is Europe's last absolute monarch.

but a man who is elected by his peers.

A man who carries one of the most awesome
burdens borne by any leader-

the spiritual care
of more than one billion people.

lt is the seat of power of one of the oldest
continually running organisations on the planet.

lt is where saints are proclaimed.

where popes reign.

where much of Western history
can find its source.

lt is a divinely inspired. human invention
known as the Vatican.

While the Vatican is one of the most
widely known places in the world.

it is perhaps one of the least understood.

From the outside. it seems impenetrable.

its centuries-old walls and looming palace
designed to keep invading armies at bay.

Because most of the Vatican
is closed to the public.

few people will ever get the chance
to step beyond St Peter's Square

and the massive Basilica behind.

But it is only inside that the idea of the Vatican
comes alive.

Here. within the ornate buildings.
along frescoed hallways.

in sacristies. guard barracks and workshops.

one meets the people and hears the stories
that give this powerful place its soul.

At the Vatican.
there is no such thing as a typical day.

The work here is as varied as
the 2.000-year history of the place itself.

That's good.

Pronto, il Vaticano.

But for some who serve inside.
today will be more intense than most.

Within St. Peter's Basilica.
in a makeshift sacristy hidden from public view.

these people are preparing for one of the most
important events on the Vatican calendar.'

the Pope's ordination of nine new bishops.

One of them. Monsignor Timothy Broglio.
who will soon become Archbishop Broglio.

arrives to put on his vestments.

For the Monsignor.
this ceremony is a pivotal moment

and signals his assumption
of an awesome burden.

lt is a very, very striking... a very striking thing.

lt is a very deep responsibility.

And it does put you in immediate contact
with Peter and Paul and James and John,

and all of the Apostles,

and then all of their successors
throughout a wide sweep of history...

..well, now more than 2.000 years of history.

Grazie.

Preparations for this ceremony
have been underway for weeks.

The boys of the pontifical choir have practised
each recently composed song ad nauseum.

Adesso, marcala.

The master of liturgical ceremonies
has planned and rehearsed the entire event.

And at the Vatican printing office.

the elaborate programmes
are flying through the presses.

ln the Basilica itself.

the symbols of the new bishops'office
are laid out -

the traditional bishops'hats or mitres

and each new bishop's crosier
or crooked shepherd's staff.

Like almost every major ritual event
at the Vatican.

the ordination will take place
inside St Peter's Basilica...

..a building whose link with the past
lends incomparable power

to any ceremony that unfolds within.

The Basilica is a monument to Peter.
whom Jesus chose as the chief Apostle.

declaring that Peter was the rock
on which he would build the church.

Because Rome was the capital of the empire.

Peter. along with the Apostle Paul. came here
to spread the faith. early in the first millennium.

But early Christians were often persecuted
for their beliefs.

And. according to church tradition.
in 64 AD. the Apostle Peter was arrested.

brought to one of the great imperial circuses
in Rome

and martyred on an inverted cross.

His body was taken
outside the walls of the arena.

And there. on the side of what was called
the Vatican Hill.

he was buried. perhaps in a small roofed grave.

Almost 300 years later. Constantine.
the first Christian emperor of Rome.

declared that a great church be built
on the site of the tomb of St Peter.

which had evolved from a simple grave
to a small shrine.

Now, what's interesting about
the actual location of the Basilica...

is that the terrain, the hillside...

...the imperial circus,

a Roman road, a cemetery...

..made this an almost impossible site
to construct a church.

But the Emperor insisted.

lt must be there

and the axis of the church,

the place where the altar would be,

must be precisely there.

Anchored on the grave of the Apostle.

the first St Peter's Basilica incorporated
the original shrine into the altar floor.

But 1.200 years later.
when the first Basilica was replaced.

the details of Peter's burial
had been all but forgotten.

The Vatican had long held the tradition
that Peter was buried under the Basilica.

But even as late as the 1930 s.
they didn't really have any proof.

Then. in 1939.

workers renovating the grottoes
beneath St Peter's made a stunning find.

Just below the floor level.
they discovered an ancient Roman grave.

lt soon became clear that there wasn't just one
grave. but an entire city of the dead.

After many months of digging.

the excavators came to a section of older
graves. near the area underneath the high altar.

Directly beneath the altar. they found
a small burial site and a wall painted red.

ln a niche connected to that wall.
they found the bones of a man.

Decades later. in 1968.

Pope Paul Vl announced
that those bones belonged to St Peter.

Very shortly. just before the candidates
for bishop are ordained.

they will drop to the floorjust above those bones

and prostrate themselves before the high altar.

Here. the gesture underscores
the Vatican's link with Peter

and the new bishops'role in carrying
Christ's message into the future.

The ordination is the most prominent
of hundreds of different things

occurring simultaneously within the Vatican.

each carrying its own message about life here.

ln a barracks within the Vatican walls.

new recruits to the smallest standing army
in the world are mustering out.

They are Swiss Guards

and for the last 500 years.
they have been the bodyguards of the pope.

They number only about 100.

and to qualify.
one must be Swiss. Catholic.

and at least five feet eight inches tall.

Today they are drilling with
state-of-the-art equipment. circa 1 500.

preparing for the biggest day on their calendar.

the ceremony where they will pledge
their fidelity and their lives to the Pope.

For 22-year-old Yves Luthi.

the oath he'll take raises basic questions
about faith

and its essential role in becoming a guard.

This is difficult.

And l don't know
whether this applies to everyone.

But one thinks, l believe, what do l do now?

This is actually what makes the Swiss Guard.

You take an oath to the Holy Father,
you swear to give your life, to the commander.

Without the oath, the Swiss Guard
would not make any sense.

The Swiss Guard serve a ceremonial role.

but they are also a carefully trained
security force.

When the Pope moves in public.

some of the guards shed their stripes for plain
clothes and join members of the Vatican police

to form a cordon around the Pontiff.

But in spite of their training
and in spite of their oath.

this very public Pope is vulnerable.

ln 1981.
during one of his weekly public audiences.

Pope John Paul ll was greeting people
in St Peter's Square

when suddenly...shots rang out.

The Pope was shot at point blank range
and severely wounded.

Though none of the security detail was injured.

Swiss Guards like Yves Luthi.
who is preparing to take the oath.

know that one cost of his commitment
could be his life.

Most guards will never have to face
that moment.

lnstead. they're likely to spend endless hours
standing guard in spectacular places

like this - the Sala Regia. or Royal Hall.

This is the ante room of ante rooms.

and leads to other carefully guarded places
like the papal apartments.

Outside the palace. what passes for rush hour
at the Vatican is underway.

Buongiorno. Si, grazie.

The main access to the Vatican
is at the St Anne's gate.

where the Swiss Guards carefully control
who comes in.

Farmacia.

The Vatican is the smallest sovereign state
in the world.

measuring only about 1 09 acres.

lt is ringed with centuries-old walls
and entirely surrounded by the city of Rome.

But it is a separate nation. Formed in 1929
in a treaty with the ltalian government.

This independence is the Vatican's
most important secular feature.

because it protects the Pope
from outside interference.

Within the walls. there is some open space.

But for these Swiss Guards out for a jog.

the size of the Vatican gives a whole new
meaning to the idea of running ''cross country''.

Besides a tiny population of about 900.

the Vatican has everything
a normal nation might have.'

a police force...

..a newspaper....

..a postal service...

..even a soup kitchen for the poor.

There are a few atypical features in this city.

Here. trafficjams can sometimes stretch
up to ten cars long.

And the Vatican is. perhaps.
the only country in the world

where the cash machines
provide instructions in Latin.

Careful observers of the Vatican
might notice a recurring image here.

lt's a man in a small blue car that frequently
darts in and out of the gates.

slipping past the guards with only a wave.

His face is his entrance pass
and it is familiar to all.

He is Arturo Mari. the Pope's photographer.

Both his father and his grandfather
worked in the Vatican.

And Arturo. for the past 45 years. has
photographed almost every aspect of papal life.

l think that this job must be done
because one has a belief.

Before the work, he has a belief-

a veneration towards the person
with whom he is working.

The Holy Father transmits with his personality
this love in me for my work.

lf the Vatican is defined
by the personalities within it.

then no one defines it more
than Pope John Paul ll.

Arturo's coverage. whether on one of
the Pope's international trips

or on one of his endless days here in
the Vatican. provides comprehensive proof.

OK.

On a typical day, by 6:50 in the morning,

l am already in the Holy Father's apartment.

The first ceremony is the Mass,
which the Holy Father does every morning.

After the Mass, the Holy Father receives
the guests who attended -

personalities, bishops, cardinals, people -
everyone, everyone.

ln this, he never has any time.

Free time does not exist for the Pope.

This is the reality - prayer, work, work, prayer.

This is the life of the Pope.

Though he would be uncomfortable
with the comparison.

it is also a bit of the life of Mari.

While Arturo builds an enviable record
of the present.

a small army of some of the world's
finest art restorers

is preserving the Vatican's
artistic chronicle of the past.

Beneath the Vatican museums and galleries.
in an area closed to tourists.

the artisans toil away
in three restoration laboratories.'

for marble...

..for tapestries...

..and for painting.

With the amount of art.
and with so much of it being centuries old.

there is always another beautiful problem
to solve.

The man responsible
for the conservation and restoration

of the Vatican's vast painting collection
is Maestro Maurizio de Luca.

To understand why the Pope
has such collections,

one can't just think of today's pope,

one must think about what the church
and the pope have meant over the centuries.

The popes and their court, at the time,
were the greatest supporters of culture.

This is the place where the popes put
some of the greatest artists to work

and these have now become collections.

Maestro de Luca compares the labs
to a peculiar kind of hospital.

Well, there are many kinds of doctors
in this hospital.

We have to be ready for any artistic problem
that might come up.

But we are fortunate.

No one else in the world has the opportunity
to do what we do,

to have so many different works
and to take care of them all the time.

ln one of the oldest wards of this hospital.

a series of brilliant tapestries is being restored.

Designed for the Sistine Chapel
by the Renaissance master. Raphael.

the tapestries are luminous renderings in silk.
wool and gold.

But time. and previous restorations.
have ravaged these irreplaceable works.

For decades. the responsibility
for saving the tapestries

has been borne by a small group of
Franciscan sisters and other artisans.

Sister Angela Messina has dedicated her life
to restoring them

and has worked here for 35 years.

She has the unenviable task
of taking a pair of scissors

and cutting into a priceless masterpiece.

Yes, honestly, it is something too precious,
so we try to be extremely careful.

We try to not remove some of the oldest
restorations like this part here, which is in silk.

This is why l do it very slowly, stitch by stitch,

eliminating this old area so that really
none of the original will be taken.

They've already spent three years restoring this
tapestry and it will take another year to finish.

And then Sister Angela and her colleagues
will move to the next.

for this beautiful work
isjust one in a series of ten.

A hallmark of the Vatican is that the art is
not consigned exclusively to the museums -

it is everywhere. virtually holding up the walls.

For Monsignor Timothy Broglio.

these frescoes line the route to his office
in the Vatican Secretariat of State.

l've walked down this hall
every day for more than 1 1 years

and so there are times
when you don't even really look at it.

And that's tragic because it is a privilege
that not too many people have

and one should be aware
of one's surroundings all the time.

But like all people,
sometimes you're preoccupied,

or concerned about something that...

Something's on your mind and you don't look.

But there is much to see.

Monsignor Broglio might be preoccupied.

because not long from now.
he will be ordained as Archbishop Broglio.

Bishops follow in the footsteps
of the original 1 2 Apostles.

and to wear that mantle is no easy task.

A few days after l learned of my appointment,
it so happens that the liturgical cycle

had us reading the gospel
in which Jesus chooses his Apostles.

The first time that l read that gospel

after knowing that l was going to be announced
as a new archbishop was to say,

''My goodness.
Could l actually be fulfilling this role?

Am l able to do this?''

Bishops and archbishops.
identifiable by their purple sash and skull-cap.

are like vice presidents of what has become
a multinational organisation.

Some help run various departments
of the Vatican.

most handle the pastoral care of
entire cities around the world.

But Broglio will perform a third role.

He will be named as a papal nuncio.
or ambassador. representing the Holy See -

the official name of the government
of the Roman Catholic Church.

Today. preparations are underway
for a state visit by the President of Argentina.

just one of the 174 nations that maintain
diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

World leaders are drawn here not because
of the Vatican's emerging economy

or potential trade benefits.

They come because they want to make
personal contact with Pope John Paul ll.

the spiritual leader of more than
one billion Catholics worldwide.

His undeniably influential role in the fall of
communism and his tireless efforts for peace

give him great stature on the world stage.

But his stands on issues like birth control
and abortion.

third world debt and religious freedom.

have made him controversial as well.

Critics contend that on some issues he is
too theologically conservative for the times.

But the steady parade of world leaders
has made it plain

that John Paul ll is a man to be reckoned with.

There are few experiences.
even for a world leader.

as daunting as being escorted through
the elaborate halls of the apostolic palace.

Along the way.
thousands of years of history and power

make their impression before the leader
even lays his eyes on the Pope.

Today. Argentina's President.
Fernando de la Rua.

is received by the Pope in the private library.

Here they will exchange gifts
and read statements typical of any state visit.

But the Holy See is a religious state.

and that means there are variations
on normal diplomatic protocol.

ln a centuries old custom.
devout Catholics and other admirers

kiss the ring of the Holy Father
as an act of deference to the Vicar of Christ.

As they do so. the Pope hands them a rosary
to commemorate the visit.

Pope John Paul ll has reigned
for more than 23 years.

the sixth longest reign in history.

When a pope's reign ends.

one of the most distinct processes of succession
in the world begins.

lt's not, for instance, like a royal succession -

''The King is dead, long live the King.''

No, it doesn't work like that.

When a pope dies.

the College of Cardinals.
a group of the church's highest ranking clergy.

are called to Rome for a papal election.

Technically. any Catholic man can be elected.

but. historically. the pool of candidates
has been limited to cardinals.

Could be any one of them.

They all go in. All right, one of them is elected.

How they come to that decision remains secret.

That is not divulged.

Probably better so.

The process is called a conclave.
which literally means ''locked with a key''.

a word coined in the days
when the cardinals were locked in a room.

until they made a decision.

To ensure secrecy during the entire conclave.
and to avoid outside pressure.

temporary quarters for the cardinals
had to be built all over the Vatican palace.

library and museums.

Balloting takes place only in the Sistine Chapel.

After they have been tallied.
the ballots are burned in a small stove.

The chimney from that stove
can be seen from St Peter's Square.

lt is the colour of the smoke
that onlookers will try to discern.'

black means a failed ballot. while white means
a new pope has been chosen.

And the air of expectancy
could be cut with a knife.

l mean, hundreds and hundreds of people
all just waiting, wondering.

Suddenly,
when you're probably not expecting it,

you suddenly see the first whiff of smoke
and everybody is electrified.

''Oh... Oh, no, is it white?

No, it's kind of grey... Oh, no, it's black smoke.

We'll need to come back again tomorrow.''

Meanwhile. inside the conclave. in an odd mix
of spiritual devotion and pragmatism.

the cardinals must make a decision that will
determine the course of the Catholic Church

for perhaps the next decade or more.

And what of the man who is eventually chosen?

lt must be quite formidable for the candidate
who sees that the electors

are converging on his name.

Until, in fact, you realise that you are getting
your two-thirds majority

and that the electors
have actually converged on you.

That must be quite a fearsome moment.

The newly elected pontiff must then literally
walk out of the College of Cardinals.

He heads toward the altar of the Sistine Chapel.

toward a room where the white papal robes
await.

lt has been given the title ''the Room of Tears'',

which gives the impression
that maybe a certain amount of emotion

and emotional weeping takes place

before the man actually emerges
now dressed as the new pope.

Moments later. the great glass doors of
the central balcony of St Peter's are opened

and the cardinals emerge
to make their announcement.

Everybody is waiting, just waiting to hear
the name of the newly elected pope.

A few minutes later, the new pontiff.

They're magic moments.

Cardinalem Wojtyta.

Some 264 popes have reigned
over the course of almost 2.000 years.

and in that time. they have written major parts
of the history of the Western world.

Their stories fill some 30 miles of shelves
in the Vatican secret archives.

home to many of the pivotal documents
of Western history.

Here you'll find the petition
on behalf of Henry Vlll

seeking an annulment of his marriage
to Catherine of Aragon.

Attached are the seals
of 85 clergymen and nobles.

an attempt to persuade the Pope
of the justness of Henry's request.

The reams of red ribbon attaching the seals
are said to be the root of the term ''red tape''.

ln spite of the ribbon and seals.
the request was denied.

lncensed. Henry broke from Rome and declared
himself head of the new Church of England.

Almost 300 years earlier. a letter from
the great Khan of Mongolia arrived

warning that if the Vatican
wanted to maintain peace.

the Pope and his cardinals would have to come
to the Khan's palace and pay him homage.

Request also denied.

Some of these documents
are slowly beginning to die of old age.

thrusting conservators into a race against time.

ln this lab.
they are carefully digitising precious documents.

like this. one of the few remaining letters
in Michelangelo's own hand.

His letter features a timeless complaint.'

He pleads to a bishop
that the guards of St Peter's

haven't been paid in nearly three months

and their threatened departure will create
a scandal Michelangelo wants no part of.

But nearly 500 years after he wrote it.
iron in Michelangelo's ink has turned corrosive.

Many of the graceful strokes from the master's
pen have left the letter full of tiny slashes.

Conservators are working to ensure that more
than just a virtual Michelangelo remains.

lf not for the conservation efforts
and the digitisation campaign.

much of a 1.000-year memory of the world
could be lost forever.

One of the charms of the Vatican is that
so many different kinds of things

can be happening at the same time
in such a small place.

While preparations for the bishops'ordination
are ongoing in the Basilica.

in the Swiss Guard barracks.

the tailor of the guards is creating
one of the few secular icons of the Vatican.

At eight pounds. it may be one of the heaviest
uniforms in current use by any standing army.

lts Renaissance style certainly makes it
one of the most complicated to make.

When he first arrived here only four years ago.

tailor Ety Cicioni met with a surprising
challenge.'

there were no patterns and no instructions
for how to make the uniform.

All he had to go on was a finished piece.

Even this simplified version will take Ety
some 32 hours and three fittings to complete.

The final fitting takes place
in the guard's armoury.

stocked with a variety of antique weapons
from the Vatican's sometimes violent past.

For at one time. the Holy See
could muster formidable military power.

For about 700 years after the death of St Peter.

the popes grew in their spiritual
and political influence.

But they didn't yet wield kingly power.

This changed dramatically in the 8th century
when the Pope received a gift of land

from the King of the Franks.

This valuable territory became
a sovereign entity called the Papal States.

And the power and money
that came with controlling them

not only sustained the Holy See.

some would say it corrupted it.

ln the early Middle Ages, you find local
Roman people, local barons and people,

they wanted the temporal power.

And the only way
they could get their hands on it

was by getting their hands
on the office of the pope.

And that's when we find
some very dubious characters are elected,

are imposed as popes.

Over the course of the next 800 years.
despite reformers.

the Vatican and the world weathered
a recurring plague of unethical. immoral men.

Alexander Vl fathered numerous
illegitimate children.

lived openly with a mistress

and granted large chunks of papal lands
to his sons.

Leo X spent wildly. and reportedly once said.

''God has given us the papacy. let us enjoy it. ''

But one episode went beyond the others
in its implications for the Vatican.

ln 1506. In a bid to assert
the power of the papacy.

Pope Julius ll hired the best artists of the day
to build a spectacular new basilica.

The problem came with paying
for the new church.

To raise the vast sum needed.

Julius employed a long-standing tradition
of granting indulgences -

individuals would donate money
in exchange for spiritual blessings.

But the tradition was widely abused.

Now this led to the accusation,
possibly founded,

that indulgences were being sold.

That certainly was the impression
that was given,

that the Pope was just selling indulgences

in order to make up the money that was going
to be needed to construct this building.

This, of course, was one of the major scandals
that led to the Reformation in the 1 6th century.

lt is a great irony that the architectural glory
of the Basilica

and much of the artwork that fills the Vatican.

work that reflects the height
of artistic achievement.

came at the depth of the papacy's
worldly corruption.

But many of the Renaissance popes made
great contributions without a moral downside.

One of them. Gregory Xlll.
made a change that still effects us today.

He altered time.

ln an observatory
high above the Vatican palace.

the winds blow down
from four dramatic frescoes.

A brilliant beam of sunlight
is cast out of the mouth of the south wind.

lt falls upon the floor. which is carefully
designed as a seasonal calendar.

ln 1580. Pope Gregory faced a major problem.'

the date for Easter
had been falling earlier each year.

Something was wrong with the calendar they'd
been using since the days of Julius Caesar.

Vatican astronomers recalculated the calendar

and according to tradition. used the observatory
to show the Pope a remarkable fact.

On the spring equinox. the beam of sunlight
should have hit a designated spot on the floor.

lnstead. it was several centimetres off.

The discrepancy proved that
in the course of nearly 1.600 years.

the calendar had slipped more than ten days.

To get the calendar back on track.

Gregory erased ten days from the year.

He declared that at midnight on October 4th. the
date would turn. not to the 5th. but to the 1 5th.

Leap years would be modified

and the year would begin not in March as it had.
but in January.

Over the next 400 years.
virtually every nation on earth

would adopt the calendar
that had been verified in this room.

At the pontifical choir boy's school.

the final practice before the bishops'ordination
is in full swing.

The boys enter the choir here at the age of nine
and leave when they turn 1 3.

or when their voices change.
whichever comes first.

According to tradition. the full pontifical choir.
which includes men.

dates back some 1.600 years.

Since the 4th century. itsjob has been to lift
the ceremony out of the worldly realm.

But see, the music moves through
and elevates the celebration,

that is, the mystery that is celebrated,
the moment that is celebrated,

is expressed through the music.

So it is not imposed on the rite, but it is the rite,

it is the word,
the word that becomes song and music.

lt is difficult to imagine a better place
to ordain a new bishop

than the rarefied expanse of St Peter's Basilica.

Built over the course of more than 1 00 years.
it is the baroque jewel in the Vatican crown.

The jewellers who maintain the sacred gem
are called the sampietrini.

or the men of St Peter.

They take care of the Basilica's 31 altars.
27 chapels.

390 statues. 135 mosaics

and its more than 15.000 square metres
of marble floor.

Twice per year. the sampietrini clean
Bernini's spectacular Baldacchino.

a massive 90 foot high bronze canopy
that stands above the papal altar.

The sampietrini were founded
nearly 400 years ago.

Their ability to work the precarious heights
of the Basilica and colonnade

earned them a reputation
as sure-footed acrobats.

On special occasions in the past.
like the coronation of a new pope.

the sampietrini would prepare the Basilica
for something called an illumination.

ln an astounding display.

thousands of lanterns and torches were placed
everywhere on the facade and colonnade.

Even the precarious pitch of the dome
was covered with lights.

With uncanny timing. the torches were all lit
within minutes of each other

and the entire monument to St Peter
shimmered in a warm glow.

Back at the Swiss Guard barracks.
a troop prepares to depart for the Basilica.

Very shortly. they will stand guard as
the Pope ordains Monsignor Timothy Broglio

and eight other candidates.

From all over the Vatican.
people are being drawn here.

The pontifical choir boys.

cardinals and bishops.

international diplomats and their guests
all arrive at the side door of St Peter's

for the long awaited ordination ceremony.
now only minutes away.

lnside. Monsignor Broglio and the eight
other candidates and their attendants

finish vesting and await
the entrance procession.

lt falls to the pontifical choir.
with weeks of practice behind them.

to create the proper atmosphere
as the procession begins.

nearly an eighth-of-a-mile away
at the back of the church.

For Monsignor Broglio.
24 years of preparation in the priesthood

are culminating in a moment that is somewhere
between jubilation and deep humility.

More an attitude of prayer
than anything else,

and gratitude.

And l thought about my parents this morning.

My parents are watching
from another vantage point,

but my sister and brothers are here.

Of all the spiritual tools
at the disposal of the Vatican.

none compares to a ceremony in St Peter's.

An appeal is made to every sense
in a bid to transport the audience.

The Pope will be their guide.

For the roughly 15.000 worshippers and guests
inside the Basilica.

the Pope's entrance is an emotional high point

and signals the true beginning
of the celebration.

The ordination rite has two dramatic elements.'

...an ethereal chanted prayer
invoking the intercession of saints

and the laying on of hands.

For Monsignor Broglio.
one of the most poignant moments

comes at the beginning of the rite.

At that moment. the choir begins to sing
a chanted prayer

asking all the saints through the ages
to pray for the candidates.

As a sign of their submission
and the intensity of their prayer.

the candidates prostrate themselves
on the floor before the high altar.

just above the place where almost
2.000 years before. tradition says.

the Apostle Peter was laid to rest.

lt's an extremely emotional moment,
because you hear the chant,

you unite yourself with the chant,

and also at the same time,
many other thoughts go through your mind.

And so, it will be a very significant and a very
climatic moment for me and for my ministry.

The most compelling and perhaps
the most mystical moment in the ceremony

comes when the Holy Father lays his hands
on the head of each individual candidate.

lt is through his touch and prayer
that they become ordained.

ln the eyes of the Church. they are now invested
with the authority to teach and lead.

connected not just to the Pope.
but to nearly two millennia of popes

and ultimately to Peter and Christ as well.

Every cardinal and bishop in the Basilica
then carries on the tradition.

At the end of the ceremony. nine new bishops.
bearing the symbols of their new office

and carrying the essential imprimatur
of St Peter and the original Apostles.

move out to a world with no shortage of need.

ln a very real sense at that moment, one
experiences a tremendous sense of gratitude,

because l think you realise
that you're not there by yourself.

You're there because people
have helped you along the way.

As the crowd ebbs from the Basilica and square.

another ceremony is being planned.

A centuries-old wax seal is being preserved.

Artists begin restoring a peerless marble.

Swiss Guard recruits take their oath to the
Pope.

..so wahr mir Gott und seine Heiligen helfen.

And a familiar photographer frames
another shot for history.

The Holy Father prepares to depart
for yet another international trip.

Bishops and cardinals meet
to plan the future of their church.

Life here is an endless cycle of events
both spiritual and secular.

monumental and mundane.

lt is a place defined by its people.

men and women who struggle to achieve
an almost unreachable ideal.

striving somewhere between the human
and the divine.