A beautiful canonization Mass today in St. Peter’s Square. What I especially loved were the long periods of silence. Tens of thousands of people silent in communion before God, with God, in St. Peter’s Square. Amazing.

Here’s Bishop Steven Lopes as he processed from St. Peter’s.

St. John Henry Newman, pray for us. I imagine I will have much to say about Newman and the development of doctrine, on conscience, and on education in the coming days, but right now I want to upload some photos, both of the canonization and some of our ordinariate folks in Rome right now. I have more pictures on my phone, so more later.

Msgr. Robert Mercer has a policy of never smiling in photos, but I think I did get some. Above he is shown with Fr. Bernard Sixtus, an ordinariate priest in South Wales and a member of the board of directors of the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society.

I met Msgr. Mercer this morning at 8 a.m. at the priests’ residence where he is staying and we walked together to the Hotel Michelangelo where we met Msgr. Carl Reid, Msgr. Entwistle, Nigel McBain, a seminarian from Australia, and Fr. Tad Oxley of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Fr. Oxley greeted Bishop Lopes as we got to the area outside the sacristy of St. Peter’s.

We also got a chance to say hello to Bishop Robert Barron.