National Geographics - Inside The Vatican

The power of the place is inescapable

and a long way from its humble origins as a graveyard.

For nearly 2.000 years. its story has captured the imagination of millions.

From here. a religious faith grew to dominate the Western world.

Crusades were launched. great inquisitions were convened.

governments made and broken.

lt is an accumulation of remarkable buildings and art.

lt is the smallest sovereign nation. and yet one of the most powerful.

lf it had a gross national product. it would be measured not in money. but in souls.

lts leader is Europe's last absolute monarch.

but a man who is elected by his peers.

A man who carries one of the most awesome burdens borne by any leader-

the spiritual care of more than one billion people.

lt is the seat of power of one of the oldest continually running organisations on the planet.

lt is where saints are proclaimed.

where popes reign.

where much of Western history can find its source.

lt is a divinely inspired. human invention known as the Vatican.

While the Vatican is one of the most widely known places in the world.

it is perhaps one of the least understood.

From the outside. it seems impenetrable.

its centuries-old walls and looming palace designed to keep invading armies at bay.

Because most of the Vatican is closed to the public.

few people will ever get the chance to step beyond St Peter's Square

and the massive Basilica behind.

But it is only inside that the idea of the Vatican comes alive.

Here. within the ornate buildings. along frescoed hallways.

in sacristies. guard barracks and workshops.

one meets the people and hears the stories that give this powerful place its soul.

At the Vatican. there is no such thing as a typical day.

The work here is as varied as the 2.000-year history of the place itself.

That's good.

Pronto, il Vaticano.

But for some who serve inside. today will be more intense than most.

Within St. Peter's Basilica. in a makeshift sacristy hidden from public view.

these people are preparing for one of the most important events on the Vatican calendar.'

the Pope's ordination of nine new bishops.

One of them. Monsignor Timothy Broglio. who will soon become Archbishop Broglio.

arrives to put on his vestments.

For the Monsignor. this ceremony is a pivotal moment

and signals his assumption of an awesome burden.

lt is a very, very striking... a very striking thing.

lt is a very deep responsibility.

And it does put you in immediate contact with Peter and Paul and James and John,

and all of the Apostles,

and then all of their successors throughout a wide sweep of history...

..well, now more than 2,000 years of history.

Grazie.

Preparations for this ceremony have been underway for weeks.

The boys of the pontifical choir have practised each recently composed song ad nauseum.

Adesso, marcala.

The master of liturgical ceremonies has planned and rehearsed the entire event.

And at the Vatican printing office.

the elaborate programmes are flying through the presses.

ln the Basilica itself.

the symbols of the new bishops'office are laid out -

the traditional bishops'hats or mitres

and each new bishop's crosier or crooked shepherd's staff.

Like almost every major ritual event at the Vatican.

the ordination will take place inside St Peter's Basilica...

..a building whose link with the past lends incomparable power

to any ceremony that unfolds within.

The Basilica is a monument to Peter. whom Jesus chose as the chief Apostle.

declaring that Peter was the rock on which he would build the church.

Because Rome was the capital of the empire.

Peter. along with the Apostle Paul. came here to spread the faith. early in the first millennium.

But early Christians were often persecuted for their beliefs.

And. according to church tradition. in 64 AD. the Apostle Peter was arrested.

brought to one of the great imperial circuses in Rome

and martyred on an inverted cross.

His body was taken outside the walls of the arena.

And there. on the side of what was called the Vatican Hill.

he was buried. perhaps in a small roofed grave.

Almost 300 years later. Constantine. the first Christian emperor of Rome.

declared that a great church be built on the site of the tomb of St Peter.

which had evolved from a simple grave to a small shrine.

Now, what's interesting about the actual location of the Basilica...

is that the terrain, the hillside...

...the imperial circus,

a Roman road, a cemetery...

..made this an almost impossible site to construct a church.

But the Emperor insisted.

lt must be there

and the axis of the church,

the place where the altar would be,

must be precisely there.

Anchored on the grave of the Apostle.

the first St Peter's Basilica incorporated the original shrine into the altar floor.

But 1.200 years later. when the first Basilica was replaced.

the details of Peter's burial had been all but forgotten.

The Vatican had long held the tradition that Peter was buried under the Basilica.

But even as late as the 1 930s. they didn't really have any proof.

Then. in 1 939.

workers renovating the grottoes beneath St Peter's made a stunning find.

Just below the floor level. they discovered an ancient Roman grave.

lt soon became clear that there wasn't just one grave. but an entire city of the dead.

After many months of digging.

the excavators came to a section of older graves. near the area underneath the high altar.

Directly beneath the altar. they found a small burial site and a wall painted red.

ln a niche connected to that wall. they found the bones of a man.

Decades later. in 1 968.

Pope Paul Vl announced that those bones belonged to St Peter.

Very shortly. just before the candidates for bishop are ordained.

they will drop to the floorjust above those bones

and prostrate themselves before the high altar.

Here. the gesture underscores the Vatican's link with Peter

and the new bishops'role in carrying Christ's message into the future.

The ordination is the most prominent of hundreds of different things

occurring simultaneously within the Vatican.

each carrying its own message about life here.

ln a barracks within the Vatican walls.

new recruits to the smallest standing army in the world are mustering out.

They are Swiss Guards

and for the last 500 years. they have been the bodyguards of the pope.

They number only about 1 00.

and to qualify. one must be Swiss. Catholic.

and at least five feet eight inches tall.

Today they are drilling with state-of-the-art equipment. circa 1 500.

preparing for the biggest day on their calendar.

the ceremony where they will pledge their fidelity and their lives to the Pope.

For 22-year-old Yves Luthi.

the oath he'll take raises basic questions about faith

and its essential role in becoming a guard.

This is difficult.

And l don't know whether this applies to everyone.

But one thinks, l believe, what do l do now?

This is actually what makes the Swiss Guard.

You take an oath to the Holy Father, you swear to give your life, to the commander.

Without the oath, the Swiss Guard would not make any sense.

The Swiss Guard serve a ceremonial role.

but they are also a carefully trained security force.

When the Pope moves in public.

some of the guards shed their stripes for plain clothes and join members of the Vatican police

to form a cordon around the Pontiff.

But in spite of their training and in spite of their oath.

this very public Pope is vulnerable.

ln 1 981. during one of his weekly public audiences.

Pope John Paul ll was greeting people in St Peter's Square

when suddenly...shots rang out.

The Pope was shot at point blank range and severely wounded.

Though none of the security detail was injured.

Swiss Guards like Yves Luthi. who is preparing to take the oath.

know that one cost of his commitment could be his life.

Most guards will never have to face that moment.

lnstead. they're likely to spend endless hours standing guard in spectacular places

like this - the Sala Regia. or Royal Hall.

This is the ante room of ante rooms.

and leads to other carefully guarded places like the papal apartments.

Outside the palace. what passes for rush hour at the Vatican is underway.

Buongiorno. Si, grazie.

The main access to the Vatican is at the St Anne's gate.

where the Swiss Guards carefully control who comes in.

Farmacia.

The Vatican is the smallest sovereign state in the world.

measuring only about 1 09 acres.

lt is ringed with centuries-old walls and entirely surrounded by the city of Rome.

But it is a separate nation. formed in 1 929 in a treaty with the ltalian government.

This independence is the Vatican's most important secular feature.

because it protects the Pope from outside interference.

Within the walls. there is some open space.

But for these Swiss Guards out for a jog.

the size of the Vatican gives a whole new meaning to the idea of running ''cross country''.

Besides a tiny population of about 900.

the Vatican has everything a normal nation might have.'

a police force...

..a newspaper....

..a postal service...

..even a soup kitchen for the poor.

There are a few atypical features in this city.

Here. trafficjams can sometimes stretch up to ten cars long.

And the Vatican is. perhaps. the only country in the world

where the cash machines provide instructions in Latin.

Careful observers of the Vatican might notice a recurring image here.

lt's a man in a small blue car that frequently darts in and out of the gates.

slipping past the guards with only a wave.

His face is his entrance pass and it is familiar to all.

He is Arturo Mari. the Pope's photographer.

Both his father and his grandfather worked in the Vatican.

And Arturo. for the past 45 years. has photographed almost every aspect of papal life.

l think that this job must be done because one has a belief.

Before the work, he has a belief-

a veneration towards the person with whom he is working.

The Holy Father transmits with his personality this love in me for my work.

lf the Vatican is defined by the personalities within it.

then no one defines it more than Pope John Paul ll.

Arturo's coverage. whether on one of the Pope's international trips

or on one of his endless days here in the Vatican. provides comprehensive proof.

OK.

On a typical day, by 6:50 in the morning,

l am already in the Holy Father's apartment.

The first ceremony is the Mass, which the Holy Father does every morning.

After the Mass, the Holy Father receives the guests who attended -

personalities, bishops, cardinals, people - everyone, everyone.

ln this, he never has any time.

Free time does not exist for the Pope.

This is the reality - prayer, work, work, prayer.

This is the life of the Pope.

Though he would be uncomfortable with the comparison.

it is also a bit of the life of Mari.

While Arturo builds an enviable record of the present.