Papal Audiences
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Once you have requested your audience tickets, you must pick them up in person the day before the audience at the St. Patrick's Church Sacristy between 4:30 and 6:15 PM. Our address is: Via Boncompagni, N. 31, near the corner of Via Boncompagni and Via Piemonte, just down the street from the Via Veneto and the U.S. Embassy to Italy. Please click here for Map and Public Transportation Directions! This is the new home of the Catholic American Community of Rome (formerly located at Santa Susanna Church) Please do not come before 4:30 PM. The Church opens at 4:00 PM, so you are welcome to come in and pray while you wait. Our daily Mass in English is at 6 PM and we would be happy if you are able to stay and worship with us. Our secretary Rosanna will respond to you within two weeks of your desired date. There is no need to call to check on this. We always have enough tickets for each WEdnesday audience.
Please note that the following Metro stop have been temporarily closed: Repubblica and Barberini. We do not know when they will reopen, but probably not until the Fall. So either come to St. Patrick's by bus, by taxi (tell them Via Boncompagni at Via Piemonte) or by walking
Tickets ARE REQUIRED for all of the Fall Audiences, beginning September 11. You can check the Vatican website (www.vatican.va) for further information. There will not be a Wednesday Papal Audience on September 4, November 20 or December 25. And tickets are never required for the August Audiences!!! (They are not printed). The Papal Audiences are held on Wednesday mornings at 9:30 AM in St. Peter’s Square (sometimes in December/January and in August, they are held in the Paul VI Audience Hall, just ask the guards). The Pope usually gets there at 9 AM, and begins visiting various sections of the crowd (usually driving through the area). To enter the Square, you will have to go through security first (through the colonnade on either side, as directed by the guards.) Just follow the crowds and go early! We recommend that you arrive 2 hours early in order to get a good seat. The Audience is not a Mass. It is a time for pilgrims and visitors to greet and listen to the Pope. Pictures are allowed to be taken. Religious articles will be blessed by the Pope during the Audience. It lasts about 1 ½ hours and includes prayers, singing, a brief homily, and blessings, all in different languages. DRESS appropriately (no shorts or sleeveless shirts) and don’t bring backpacks or knapsacks. If there is heavy rain, and having the audience outside is not possible, the attendees are sometimes split into two groups, one group in the Audience Hall and one group in the Basilica.
Because of the volume of requests we receive, we cannot always send you an email confirming your ticket request. If your email or fax went through, please presume that we have received your request and will put tickets aside for you. It is NOT NECESSARY to call us to confirm, but please, please, let us know if you are cancelling.
Reminders
- If you have a problem with this application form, you can contact us directly. Please include your name, the number of tickets and the date of the audience.
- We are located at Via Boncompagni, N. 31, near the corner of Via Boncompagni and Via Piemonte, near the US Embassy and the Via Veneto. You can reach the Church by bus, taxi, subway or on foot. the nearest metro stop is Barberini. By bus: check www.atac.roma.it
- Please Note: Because of the number of ticket requests we receive, we can no longer respond right away to your emails or faxes! In most cases if the email or fax has gone through, then we have received your request and will put tickets aside for you. If you are concerned to confirm your ticket request, just come on Tuesday afternoon between 4:30 and 6:15 PM. Please do not call us to check on your tickets. We have recorded every request. We have responded to every request, usually within two to three weeks of your desired date. Sometimes our response goes into your SPAM folder. We have your tickets. There is no need to call us. But remember there are no tickets printed during the month of August. No one has tickets because there aren't any. Just go DIRECTLY to the Paul VI Audience Hall between 7.30 and 8 AM on Wednesday morning. There will not be an audience on August 15, however.
- PAPAL AUDIENCE TICKETS are always free of charge. However, if you would like to make a donation to St. Patrick's Catholic American Community so that we can continue this service for pilgrims and tourists, we would greatly appreciate it. With increasing crowds, it is more and more difficult for us to pick up the papal tickets on Tuesdays, as well as record requests and make the tickets available. Anything you can offer is greatly appreciated, but again THESE TICKETS ARE TOTALLY FREE, so the offering is up to you.
Please Note
We do not supply tickets for the Jubilee Masses, Canonization Masses, or the Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Easter Vigil or the Easter Morning Masses at Saint Peter's Basilica with the Holy Father. We only offer tickets for the Wednesday General Audiences.
If you want to apply for a ticket for Christmas or Easter, you can contact the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, at the Bishops Office for U.S. Visitors to the Vatican, Via dell' Umiltá 30, 00187 Rome, Italy. It is located at the Casa Santa Maria dell'Umiltà, one block from the Trevi Fountain. Their mailing address is:
U.S. Bishop's Visitor Office, Via dell' Umiltà 30, 00187 Rome, Italy
You can telephone them at Rome Tel. 011-3906-6900-1821 or send them a fax at: 011/3906/679-1448
