CHICAGO (WLS) — On a beautiful Tuesday evening in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, excitement is building for a group of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy students, who are getting ready for Wednesday’s papal audience.
An ABC7 crew was on the flight with some of those students and Cardinal Blase Cupich. From the gate at O’Hare Airport to their tour of Vatican City and Rome, their energy is only growing.
Swapping Lakeview for Vatican views, the students part of a class project gone viral are now walking the same places and spaces of the Catholic cardinals they once dressed up as.
“I get emotional when I think about it,” said Allison Foerster, who teaches at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy. “This feels like such a gift to get to be a part of this, to get to be a part of the team that puts together something like this for our students.”
And on Wednesday, they will get to stand in St. Peter’s Square as their hometown pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, addresses the general audience.
“We have no expectation of what will happen. We are just coming in faith and in joy to be in his presence and see what happens,” Foerster said.
On Monday, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy students in Rome took part in a special tour of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, getting a chance to see the tomb of Paul the Apostle.
“I don’t want to leave. I want to learn more, but I can’t, because we have to go see other stuff,” said fifth-grader Max Schnakenberg.
Schnakenberg, 10, says the time between first putting on his conclave costume to being able to walk into walls of Vatican City was fast.
“They were like ‘Hey guys, we’re going to make our own conclave.’ And now, ‘Hey, were going to meet the pope.’ Like, that’s a big jump,” Schnakenberg said. “Coming here, to Rome, is insane itself. Meeting the pope is a whole other level.”
Chicago native Pope Leo showed off his catching skills at a special greeting for Croatian pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Monday.
It is still anyone’s guess if these students will get more than just a general audience with the Holy Father.
But for Foerster, one the teachers who envisioned the idea of the mock conclave, says this trip itself is a blessing she and her fellow teachers never imagined.
“They’re really looking forward to just being a part of the experience. We know that no matter what, we get to see him and that in itself feels like such a gift,” Foerster said. “To be able to be here doing this, knowing this is a watershed moment for our church for our school… It’s such a gift to get be a part of this community, and to get to teach these sweet young people and to know that this is going to be a life-changing moment for them.”
Meanwhile, ABC News has learned the pope will make his first foreign trip.
The Vatican told reporters that Pope Leo XIV will travel to Turkey and Lebanon. His trip is set for late November into December.
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