Advisory: No reserved seats for Pedro’s canonization rites

Pilgrims off to Rome were reminded to arrive early in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Oct. 21 since  “there are no reserved seats.”

The time of the canonization was moved from 10 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. or 30 minutes earlier, according to an advisory from the Cebu Archdiocese.

In the Philipppines, it will be 4:30 p.m.

Entry tickets are issued for free at the Philippine Embassy in Rome but they “do not guarantee any seat.”

The tickets, released on Friday or three days before the main event,  are available from 9 AM to 1 PM “until supply lasts”.

“The Vatican Square will open at 8 a.m. There are no reserved seats. The first to arrive will occupy the front seat,” said the advisory from the Calungsod Canonization Rome Commission.

It will be a long day spent in the open air Mass for a liturgical celebration that will likely extend past noon.

While travelers prepare the best way they can,  including the prospect of spending hours on their feet, “bottled water, cans, any metal are prohibited” inside St. Peter’s Square based on security guidelines.

Filipino delegates were asked to enter through the left side entrance facing the Vatican ( i.e. the Philippine Embassy in Rome) so they can occupy the portion in front of the picture of the Blessed Pedro Calungsod and stay together as “one big contingent”.

At least 5,000 Filipino pilgrims will be attending the Oct. 21 canonization, of which 200 are clergy members and bishops, archbishops and cardinals from the Philippines and abroad, said the advisory.

And contrary to a local church custom of receiving individual prayer requests, “the Vatican does not accept prayer requests or prayer petitions” so pilgrims are advised against receiving them  from friends and relatives.

This meant people will have to offer their prayers from wherever they are, whether standing in the Square watching the rites or at home in another part of the world. Eileen G. Mangubat