The Manchester delegation just after having received the Pope’s apostolic blessing!

What a wonderful conference!

This was the First International Conference of the (Anglican) Society of Catholic Priests.

We saw ancient Roman plumbing in Ostia, the place where St Paul’s head bounced after his execution, the tomb of Blessed John Paul II, rioting students and lots of Carabinieri, as well, of course, as the Holy Father, and many more sights of Rome and the Vatican..

We also discovered that maybe St Paul wasn’t quite as grim as we originally thought, thanks to wonderful talks by Paula Gooder. We even got up for 7am to hear Paula speak.

After the final Mass at All Saints Rome

Special times of prayer, visits to holy places, outings to clerical outfitters, meeting old friends and making new ones all made it a lovely time… the Italian food and wine (and driving) helped create the atmosphere and a made it a special time in Rome.

And so all the Manchester delegation look forward to the next international SCP conference – hopefully in San Francisco!