By Barbara Dorris

Another amazing day in Rome. We talked with a group called “Good Candy.” They work to help children who have been sexually abused in Italy and are one of the few groups that work with clergy abuse survivors. They are currently involved in the “Conti” criminal case here in Rome. We inquired about their name, explaining that children in the US are warned to never take candy from strangers, and they explained that we were talking about “bad candy” and that were protecting children so they are “good candy.”

We attended the events at the Vatican last night. We found it interesting that the square was no where near full, that anyone could walk on and still there were empty seats. The Pope appeared about 90 minutes into the event, arriving by popemobile. Interesting fact, the popemobile can drive up full flights of steps delivering the pope right to the throne. The applause was polite but certianly no standing ovation.

As you know, there was no apology and only an indirect mention of the clergy sex abuse scandal that has rocked the world. Kind of the elephant in the room no one mentioned. We left the square a little after midnight and had a wonderful walk back to our hotel through the streets of Rome.