Everyone is looking forward to the Pope coming to Philadelphia for different reasons. For restaurants and hotel owners, he will be bringing a busy but very lucrative weekend. For college students, he will be bringing a day off of classes. For my Catholic friends, he will be bringing their faith into the national spotlight.
And for me? He will be bringing an end to the guilt which has been building up for the past nine years.
Allow me to bring you back to the year 2006. Twitter launched. Pluto lost planethood. Shakira’s masterpiece ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ scorched billboards. And Pope Benedict XVI blessed a crowd outside the Vatican on Easter, of which I was in. By luck, my parents had a conference in Italy and brought me and my sister along. We decided to go to the Vatican on Easter to hear the Pope’s mass for the public.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” my parents said, as they handed me the camera. “There are only 34 pictures in a roll. Use them wisely and document this occasion well.” Perched on the shoulders of my father, I readied myself and prepared to be the best Pope photographer there ever was.
Until I saw what was behind me. Never before had I seen so many people gathered in one place. The crowd stretched as far as they eye could see and seemed to disappear in the horizon. A sea of bobbing heads swam below me. It was cramped, hot and sweaty but everyone was happy and content – amazing! I began snapping away. I wanted to document every shining, beautiful face but unfortunately I could only take portraits of 34 out of the hundred thousand crowd. By the time Pope Benedict arrived, my reel was done and my hopes of being the World's Youngest Pope Photographer shattered.
When I came home, I couldn’t wait to tell my friends about how I saw the Pope in real life. I swore he was so close I could feel the spittle on my face, so close that the Swiss Guards were keeping an eye on me specifically. “Wow!”, my friends chirped. “Let’s see some pictures!”
As the saying goes, “pics or it didn’t happen.” And so, the coolest thing I had ever seen or heard went unnoticed by all. Every single one of the photos featured a smiling Italian who was not the Pope. No architecture was documented. Just faces. So when the Pope comes to Philadelphia, I plan on getting there early, getting a great spot, hanging out with my friends and people from around the country who traveled here. I plan on taking many photos of people as well as the Pope on my camera, which now can hold more than 34 photos. I plan on doing what 2006 me could not do, and redeeming myself once and for all.
