Pope, liturgies set the mood when bishops visit Rome

Published: 2004-04-01

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While bishops making their "ad limina" visits to Rome spend more time meeting than praying, the mood of the visits is set by concelebrated Masses and individual time with Pope John Paul II, several U.S. bishops said. Whether ordained a bishop 20 years ago or five months ago, the bishops agreed that the visits they are required to make to Rome every five years underscore the fact that they are "brother bishops" and not branch managers of a global corporation. And like brothers in a big family, accidents happen; one bishop -- who will remain nameless -- was left stranded in the pouring rain March 31 after the bishops' buses left the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls following their Mass at the tomb of St. Paul. But the bishops also looked after each other. Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte, N.C., who was ordained a bishop in October, said the others helped him relax before his March 29 private audience with the pope. "I wasn't intimated because the other bishops put me at ease," he said.

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