Casino, Casino

It's absolutely crazy here. The line to get into mass wrapped all the way around S. Pietro Square. When the gates opened up at 20:20, there was a roar as hundreds of believers bolted for the metal detectors and x-ray machines. The Swiss guards, in their elaborate uniforms, are herding the flock into the Basilica. There are thousands of people in the Basilica right now, and everyone seems a little frantic to get his hands on a missal, a candle, or both.

We're sitting in the second bay from the rear of the Basilica. People around us have binoculars to see the Holy Father. In my immediate vicinity, I can hear conversations in German, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and English (there are a few languages that I cannot recognize; perhaps one is Esperanto).
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