Papal Audiences

Papal Audience Ticket request

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions ()

After a break of two weeks due to a change in the procedure for obtaining audience tickets, we have returned to our usual service. 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. If you do not receive a notice, check your SPAM file. Also, check this website on Tuesday mornings in case there is a change in the audience or picking up of tickets.

The next two Papal audiences are March 18 and 25 (There is no audience on March 11th). Tickets for audiences and papal Masses are also available by writing directly (by post) to: The Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, 00120 Vatican City State. Also, on www.vatican.va - under Prefecture of the Papal Household, you will find a form to fill, print and MAIL. For Audience tickets, however, please DO NOT DOUBLE BOOK! This causes great problems for the Papal Household in knowing how many people will be attending each audience. So choose either to book with our form, or write directly to the Papal Household. Please note that if you are going to the February 26 audience that ashes will not be distributed. You are welcome to attend one of our Masses at St. Patrick's Church on Ash Wednesday: 12 noon or 6 PM. Ashes will be distributed at both Masses.

The Metro stop BARBERINI has re-opened for exiting only. You are now able to EXIT the Barberini station (but not enter it). This is actually good for us in that you will be able to take the A line to Barberini, exit and then take one of the Buses on Via Veneto which after two stops will let you off a block from St. Patrick's. (Bus 63 or 83). You can also come to St. Patrick's by bus, by taxi (tell them Via Boncompagni at Via Piemonte) or by walking, and join us for Mass in English!

Tickets ARE REQUIRED for all of the Fall, Winter and Spring Audiences. You can check the Vatican website (www.vatican.va) for further information. There will not be a Wednesday Papal Audience on March 4th, nor on September 2nd or 9th. 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 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. We are being given less tickets to distribute this year (2020) so we need to know if you are not coming so we can release your tickets to someone else. And please doublecheck our website on Tuesday mornings.

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! In most cases if the email 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.
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.

Mass Times and Directions

Masses in English with the American Community are now permanently at the Church of St. Patrick (Chiesa di S. Patrizio a Villa Ludovisi), Via Boncompagni 31. Click here for our New Mass schedule at St.Patrick's. For Holy Days and special Liturgies (including our Christmas/New Year's Schedule), see also special Mass times.

Papal Audiences

On most Wednesdays throughout the year, Pope Francis holds a public audience in St. Peter's Square in front of St. Peter's Basilica. To request tickets to the Wednesday Papal Audience, please click here .

Donate

To make donations to St. Patrick's American Community in Rome, you can click on the secure PayPal/Credit card "DONATE" link below. If you need a tax credit letter, it is best not to use PayPal "DONATE", but make your donations by checks made out to “Paulist Fathers”, a US entity, and Fr. Greg can issue a letter for your taxes. You can mail this check or you can give US dollars in person. We hope this inconvenience won't discourage you from donating to the St. Patrick's American Community as we are much in need of your support.

As Romans Do

Our newest edition of As Romans Do, 2019-2020, our periodic guide for pilgrims to Rome, is now available. This 100-page guide to Rome and the Catholic American Community of St. Patrick’s Church is a real treasure. Click for more info!