Celebrities love Rome

Two celebrity couples that have recently been spotted in Rome (not by me but by paparazzi): Tom Brady/Gisele and Jessica Simpson/John Mayer. The celebrities are loving this place right now. I also actually saw some Italian celebrity. A large crowd of people were gawking and lots of paparazzi were circling around him. I have no idea who it was though.
Another celebrity that I saw today: Benedict XVI. We hung out earlier this evening, you know just some religious banter going back forth. In the form of the rosary. I went to his audience for University students. There were satellite feeds to various other countries (India, England, Poland, etc,) where University students had gathered. The Pope led the rosary with each country taking one decade. All the people gathered in Rome would respond so we were all saying it together. A nice feeling of community and a look into the global nature of the Catholic Church. We all prayed together, though in a dozen different languages. The Pope showed off a little; he just had to speak several different languages. I mean come on, Benny, we know you're multi-lingual.
This was my first experience being in the same room as the Pope. And wow. He is a rockstar. People were cheering, clapping, taking pictures, waving flags, and best of all...chanting his name. Oh yes. It was like a soccer chant only for the Pope. Ben-e-det-to (clap clap clap)! Awesome. I didn't know we could do that but it happened, multiple times. He seemed like a genial, old fellow. He cracked some jokes but there were in Italian so I didn't understand them. Mostly, I was struck by how much he reminded me of my Grandpa King. This little old guy with white hair doing a two handed wave. Family: you know that wave. It was funny because I realize how much respect should be given to this man and still I couldn't get the image of Grandpa waving out of my head.
I think it's easy to criticize Benedict when he's that distant leader of the Church. But watching him today, I felt sad for him. He is just an old man, human and fragile. He never asked to be Pope, never asked to be put in a position where so many people look up to him and so many people vilify him. He has followed his vocation and done what God has asked of him. Seeing him today, despite all the security and papal ceremony, made me realize that this is a man. I wanted to know what he's like as a person, when he doesn't have to be in this performance that surrounds the Papacy. Like, maybe he doesn't like mushrooms. Or maybe he secretly likes to read science fiction. I don't know. But there it is. He is human. He may have tremendous power and influence...but he also owns an iPod. I haven't met him or anything like that. It's just that seeing him today reacting to the crowd and going about his duties made me think about the Pope in a completely different way. I think I now respect him much more for being able to take on this role. It would certainly take extraordinary faith and dedication. I suppose I wanted to say this here because I know many people are not happy with him and his stance on many things. I disagree with him sometimes too. But I don't think I can ever criticize him so harshly because I have seen him in this way. Just think about it. He's nearly 80 years old. Most people want a quiet life of peace at that age; Benedict can't have that. That's why I felt sad for him. Even though he is a religious rockstar.