Albany diocesan priest cherishes unique memories of time in Rome

Today, Rev. Thomas Powers is pastor of St. Teresa of Avila parish in Albany. But back in the 1980s, he spent seven years in Rome, directing both the graduate school at the North American College and the U.S. Visitors to the Vatican Office.

Father Powers shared a few memories of Pope John Paul II garnered during his time overseas:

* At the U.S. Visitors to the Vatican Office, Father Powers arranged tickets to papal audiences for tourists passing through Rome. Some of the requests he got were quite unusual. For example, he once opened a letter stating that "Smidget, the Trick Horse" would like to perform for the Pope. The Holy Father was to state a number aloud at a papal audience, and the horse would thump out the number with his hoof.

Father Powers called a member of the papal household and presented the request as if he were seriously considering it. The papal assistant was horrified: "I don't think the Pope would want a talking horse!"

* Father Powers went to one papal audience where Mother Teresa was also in attendance. As Pope John Paul passed by her, she grabbed his arm and pointed emphatically to a huge television screen projecting the Pope's image, as if to say, "Look! We're up there!" The Pope just nodded patiently, saying, "Yes, yes."

"She was kind of a character," Father Powers remarked. "She was feisty."

* There was a family the Holy Father knew well from his days in Krakow, Poland, who came each summer to Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence. The Pope's secretary and most of his staff took vacations while Pope John Paul had "family time," relaxing with his friends.

* When Dolores Hope, wife of the late entertainer Bob Hope, visited Rome, she sent a letter to Father Powers' office asking to attend a papal audience. The priest decided to do more than simply give her a ticket; he put her in the first row, where pilgrims could kiss the Pope's ring as he passed by. The Pope stopped and spoke to her; she was so pleased, she took Father Powers out to dinner in gratitude.

* When it was time for Father Powers to leave Rome in 1987, he went to his last papal audience and discovered that a friend in the papal household had gotten him a special ticket: the "post of honor," the first seat on the corner of the front row. As Pope John Paul entered, he stopped and asked Father Powers about his work at the Casa Santa Maria (the North American College's graduate school). Father Powers said all was well.

"Many times, I used to go there," the Pope replied, referring to when he used to visit the Casa before he was elected pope to have dinner with Polish nuns who worked in its kitchen.

Speaking with the Pope, said Father Powers, was "my thank you and goodbye" to Rome.

(10/16/03) [[In-content Ad]]