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April 17, 2008

Pope visit: A cry from section 316: 'Peace be with you!'

AP photo
Washington Nationals Park was the setting for the Mass celebrated by the pope today.

WASHINGTON -- The audience for Pope Benedict XVI at the Washington Nationals baseball park today was attentive and unnaturually quiet for one so vast -- until the pope concluded the body of his sermon and added a message in Spanish directed at the most rapidly growing segment of the American church.

At that point, cheers broke out, with some shouts in Spanish here and there around the stadium, many along the lines of "long live the pope!"

As the ancient rite proceeded, members of Benedict's flock were by turns rapt, reverent and even giddy at a few points, as people from the field-level boxes to the nosebleed seats appeared to share a gigantic inside joke.

After the mass singing of the Lord's Prayer, the faithful made the traditional exchange with neighbors of handshakes, embraces and the words "peace be with you."

In a grandstand high above the third-base line, Carol Young, one of hundreds of volunteer attendants clad in red "Benedict XVI" warm-up jackets, cried out to the scores of people in her section of the ballpark, "Peace be with you, 316!"

Tens of thousands received communion from scores of priests arrayed around the stadium.

Placido Domingo, the world-famous tenor who is chief of the Washington National Opera, sang "Panis Angelicus."

The pontiff, meanwhile, attended to his most basic priestly duty, dispensing the bread to 50 communicants near the altar.

The grand recession began about 90 minutes after the opening of the Mass.

The pontiff departed the altar and walked down the center aisle from his white-roofed sanctuary, pausing as he went to offer his hands and his ring to members of his congregation.

Beaming and waving, the pontiff walked through the infield and past the pitcher's mound to a flag-waving ovation from the crowd and, at 10:36 a.m., he disappeared into the hometown dugout.

-- John E. Mulligan of the Journal Washington Bureau

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 12:59 PM | Permalink

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Greg | April 17, 2008 1:06 PM link

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