It would sound highly cliched if I were to say that I had always dreamt of spending Christmas in the Vatican. Honestly I never had such a dream. But ever since I knew that I would be in Rome during Christmas, I had made up my mind to visit the Vatican on the 25th.

This Christmas was special for me in many ways both good and bad. Firstly I was in Rome, in the vicinity of the Vatican, the heart of Christianity. Though I am not a very religious person, I still found it very exciting. Secondly, this was the first Christmas I spend without family, far away from home. And finally things were not well back home, dad was not keeping well for some time now.

My original plan was to attend the midnight mass on the eve of Christmas, which had to be abandoned since everything in Rome had closed down for the festival.So the 25th morning I took a bus to the Vatican city to be among the hundreds of thousands of people who have travelled miles to spend their Christmas in Vatican.

As they say ” All roads lead to Rome ” but on Christmas all roads in Rome lead to Vatican.As I got down from the bus and walked towards St Peter’s Basilica, I could hear the distant sound of bells. From a distance I could see the Basilica, a standing testimony to the splendor and elegance of medieval architecture.Thousands of people gathered in the huge courtyard in front of the church to get a glimpse of the Pope as he appeared at the huge window of the Basilica to address them. This was something I had seen on TV for so many years and today it was happening right before me. I was in Vatican City standing in front of St Peter’s Basilica on a Christmas morning watching the Pope deliver the message of God to the millions of believers across the world. I muttered a silent prayer. A prayer of thanksgiving , a prayer of forgiveness a prayer that got drowned by the chants of the exuberant multitude and the rhythmic tolls of the church bells…