By Becca Falivene Grillot, BA 鈥10
In the 55 years since the inception of the 91影视 Rome program, four semesters of Romers have had the unique experience of being in the right place at the right time. During the fall of 1978 and the spring semesters of 2005, 2013 and 2025, UDallas students witnessed the papal conclaves that elected our last five popes.
When the fall Rome class of 1978 descended upon the Eternal City, they entered into a momentous season of Church history, as Pope Paul VI had just passed away on Aug. 6. Cheryl (Frost) Dorenbush, BA 鈥81 recalls that, even though she was among the nearly 50 percent of her class who were not Catholic, they all converged upon St. Peter鈥檚 Square for the conclave and installation of John Paul I. What they weren鈥檛 expecting was to witness a second conclave six weeks later when the new pontiff passed away, and John Paul II was elected.
鈥淚 remember the feeling of being in the square, and you could just feel the people鈥檚 hope. It was palpable,鈥 she recalls. 鈥淭heir hope was palpable, and their devotion and their faith. It was a very wonderful experience to have.鈥
From all the time they spent gathered in St. Peter鈥檚 square, Dorenbush鈥檚 most vivid memory is of the 鈥渢iny nuns with umbrellas,鈥 slowly but steadily poking their way to the front. The students, she says, didn鈥檛 stand a chance against the persistence of the nuns, and soon they found themselves about halfway back in the crowd.
鈥淚 remembered being very polite to them because I admired their devotion and their faith and their vocation 鈥 but I really didn鈥檛 admire their umbrellas,鈥 Dorenbush laughs.
Every time they returned to the square, her mantra became: 鈥淛ust back away from the nuns.鈥
At the installation mass of Pope John Paul II, the UDallas Romers positioned themselves next to one of the Bernini fountains so that they could easily pop up for a view above the crowd.
鈥淭he whole experience was really enhanced by the literal arms of the Church, Bernini鈥檚 columns,鈥 Dorenbush describes. 鈥淚t was like they were embracing everyone. If you stand in the right way in that plaza, you can look out and see in between all of the columns, letting everyone in, the whole world, but if you take a few steps, the perspective changes and they close up, and you鈥檙e being held in the arms of the Church.鈥
Dorenbush says that feeling of embrace in the faith and devotion of the Church spurred her own conversion. When she returned to campus that spring, she began looking into RCIA, and the following year she came into the Church.
Nearly 27 years later, UDallas Spring 2005 Romers knew exactly where to stand to see JPII greet the people from his hospital window. His health was in steep decline and the world knew he would pass soon, but for some, it was more than just knowledge. Many UDallas students and staff say they could sense when his last moments were near.
Dr. Greg Roper, dean of students, who was teaching on the Rome campus at the time,
remembers Rome chaplain Fr. Mark Byrne, SOLT, saying, 鈥淟et鈥檚 just go down鈥 to St.
Peter鈥檚. They weren鈥檛 the only ones with that idea, as the square was full of people
singing and praying. Roper remembers his wife saying it was more like waiting for
a birth than a death 鈥 a joyous, peaceful occasion.
Eric Lewis, who was a Romer that semester and now serves as the Music Minister for the Church of the Incarnation, distinctly remembers a rumbling thunder echoing through the vineyard of the Due Santi campus the night JPII died. He turned to his roommate and said, 鈥淚 think that the pope just died.鈥 Sure enough, he had passed away just hours earlier.
Anne (Johnson) Judge, BA 鈥02, and Rome RA from 2004-2005, traveled to Krakow that week to spend Divine Mercy Sunday in the home country of St. Faustina.
When she arrived in Krakow, there was a somber tone, and it was clear the people were in mourning, but no one was speaking English. All the businesses were closed, including internet cafes, and in the era before smartphones, Judge needed a way to find out what was going on. She noticed a Fox News van parked on a lawn and knocked on the door. Amy Kellogg, a Fox News foreign correspondent, opened the door and Judge asked her if the pope had died, inadvertently getting interviewed about her devotion to the Divine Mercy at the same time.
Judge then returned to Rome in time to see JPII lie in state and witness the conclave that elected Pope Benedict.
Roper, on the other hand, remembers being in the Raphael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, just next door to the Sistine Chapel, while the conclave was going on, when the guards began shooing visitors out long before closing time. No one expected a pope to be chosen so quickly, recalls Roper, because of the difficulty of replacing a pope so long-standing and popular as John Paul II. So they went home, taking a route that didn鈥檛 lead them past St. Peter鈥檚 square, where unbeknownst to them, white smoke was billowing from the Sistine Chapel chimney. As they walked onto the Rome campus, they learned that the Vatican Museum had closed because a pope had been chosen.
Many realized in hindsight that then-cardinal Ratzinger鈥檚 鈥渄ictatorship of relativism鈥
homily at the opening mass of the conclave had been a source of unity for the faithful
and made him a clear choice as the next leader for the Church.
Less than a decade later, Pope Benedict became the first pope in over 700 years to voluntarily resign, and UDallas Spring 2013 Romers were shocked.
鈥淚t was kind of a day of grieving on the Rome campus,鈥 says Sarah Sokora, BA 鈥15 MS 鈥22, current UDallas Director of Advancement Services. For Romers during sede vacante, the period of time between popes, 鈥渋t鈥檚 not just that you don鈥檛 have a pope, but there鈥檚 actually no bishop. There was this real sense of loss.鈥
Sokora and her friends camped out in St. Peter鈥檚 square on the second day of the conclave, even though, again, no one expected a pope to be chosen so quickly. After the sun had fully set, smoke billowed from the chimney and in the darkness, many thought the smoke was black and began heading home. As they walked away, UDallas Romers heard shouts of 鈥渂ianco!鈥 as the smoke became more visible, and they returned to the square to meet the new Pope Francis.
Sokora remembers being surrounded by thousands of other Catholics brimming with excitement, but no one could communicate with each other. A feeling of isolation settled over the crowd, until a group of seminarians started singing the Salve Regina. The Latin hymn, undeterred by language barriers, chorused over and over again throughout the different parts of the square.
鈥淚鈥檝e never felt more powerfully the universal nature of the Church, what it means to be Catholic, than I did in that moment,鈥 Sokora reflects. 鈥淓ven that day, I knew this was going to be one of the highlights of my life.鈥
The spring 2025 Rome semester began with the announcement of Pope Francis鈥檚 illness
and hospitalization, before UDallas Romers even attended an audience with him. As
the semester went on, students began to lose hope that they would get to meet the
pontiff at all, until those who spent Easter in St. Peter鈥檚 received his final blessing.
As the first Romers to be present for a papal transition in an age of smartphones, these students found out about Francis鈥檚 passing in much the same way that those of us here in the U.S. did: they saw the headline as they scrolled their phones while sitting in their dorm rooms.
Though the pope passed away the day after Easter, the Rome semester ended just two weeks later, the day before the conclave was set to begin. A dozen students scrambled to extend their travel plans. One student, Philosophy major Caroline Anderson 鈥27, providentially already had plans to stay in Rome and meet her family, who were flying in.
A close-knit group of students, seminarians, and the Rome campus chaplain spent the next two days camped out in St. Peter鈥檚 square, playing games and praying. On the evening of the second day of the conclave, Anderson remembers noticing that there was still an hour left until the smoke was scheduled to appear. As she turned away from the chimney, shouts erupted throughout the square. White smoke had appeared.
When Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti stepped out onto the loggia and announced, 鈥淗abemus papam!鈥 Anderson says the cheers were so loud, they almost couldn鈥檛 hear the new pope鈥檚 name.
鈥淚t was so beautiful to see how everyone鈥檚 joy was about the fact that we have a new pope, and not about who the pope is. It shows the universality of the Church. The Holy Spirit has chosen who this pope is, so we are elated and overfilled with joy that we have a pope now.鈥
UDallas Romers soon found that their joy could increase even more when they learned that their new pontiff was an American.
鈥淚 think that means a lot for the Church in America,鈥 says spring 2025 Romer and English major Beatrice Ellison 鈥27. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really inspiring, really motivating for Americans that our pope is one of us.鈥
After leaving the square, the group of students went to dinner at an American restaurant, ordering burgers and a beer called Leon in honor of the new pope.
