How it began......

St. Peters Square, Rome,  March 16^th, Second day of Conclave.

That sound, it’s beautiful. The hum of excitement in the air, the sound of people praying, singing hymns, reporting. The rain dripped onto satellite dishes, umbrellas and the metal roofs of the vans, people, raincoats, candles and fires. The hissing, tapping, ringing and pattering all blended together to create a rhythm to which these thousands of worshipers and reporters danced, sung and prayed. It was not cold, which was surprising for March. The sun was just rising, shining past the ever-impressive Castel Sant’Angelo to the northeast. Reporters were preparing to live link to their various new stations around the globe whether they are reporting late night or breakfast news, some even just placing the final touches to their scripts and notes.  The wind picks up bringing with it the smell of the river.  A ripple runs through the crowd counter to the wind from the front, near the basilica. Reporters turn into meerkats, head lean out of vans cameramen leap on top clinging to satellite dishes looking for smoke. “This early?” One person shouts, a call of “Surely not yet” yelled by an American from across the square. The anticipation builds people flock forwards, camera crews pushing, shoving finding there way through.  Then the crowd turns, screams rise, people move away from the basilica. Men and women fall under the pressure of the crowd from behind.  The news teams hunker down and wait or those more seasoned reporters trying though in vain to push through. As one team reaches the epicentre of this exodus the images from their camera are streamed to the large screen on their van and then on to which ever news station around the world was receiving this exclusive even if only for a moment of footage.

That sound, it’s horrific. The screech of the unaware the stampede of feet the crying of the emotional, the whistling gasp of breath of the horrified and that sound the sound that cause any ones stomach to clench when heard from one person, yet multiplied by the thousands is enough to break even the strongest of men, the sound of a human being wretching, losing control as their body ejects it’s contents.  The screens go blank, channel controllers cut the live feed, and no more is shown of what lay in wait for those unsuspecting camera men, their cameras moved, lowered or powered down. No one expected what was there. Nothing could have prepared any of them for the sight that lay before them. A hush eventually fell across the square, all eyes of the conscious moved back to the sight that had horrified them all too much just moments before. It raised it’s head. Chaos took hold.