[Gocamino] Oooooops big time

[Blaroli at aol.com]

Hi,
The name of the church in Rome of which the Pope is a bishop is Saint John 
Lateran.  (SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERANO in Italian). The adjacent structure 
containing the revered stairway is known  as the SCALA SANTA.
=I have disabled the spell-check function in this computer that, often 
enough,  substitutes whole words instead of merely checking spelling errors , a 
property that leads to unacceptable misprintings such as the one in the original 
message misnaming the church.     (I'm embarrassed.)
Having said so much, it would be remiss not to add that the area where the 
church stands in ancient times was the site of the  "Patriarchate", that is, the 
official ancient residence of the popes,  since the times of  Constantine  
(III-IV centuries  A.D.), the emperor that made Christianity the official 
religion of the Roman empire.
Because of this historical denouement, the oldest and tallest obelisk in Rome 
stands in the Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano; it dates from the  Egyptian 

reigns of Tutmes 3rd. and 4th in the fifteenth century BC   (Yup!....  B.C.). 
 It had stood in the temple of Ammon in Thebes , and it was brought to Rome 
and placed in the Circus Maximus by Constantius II  357 AD.  Twelve centuries 
later it was found there, in three pieces,  by Pope Sixtus V who restored it 
and placed it on its present site, under the protection of the  Popes, so to 
speak.
 Many great popes , including Innocent III, the one that met and valued Saint 
Francis of Assisi, and the Leo popes, are buried in the church.  
By the way, the main altar of the church is composed of a simple wooden table 
upon which St. Peter himself is believed to have celebrated Mass;   only the 
Pope can say Mass there.
Lastly, as though the church contents and environs were not enough,  an 
unobtrusive little door in the church leads to its cloisters, which are universally 
agreed,  in history and art books, to be the most beautiful of their kind.

.....Sorry if I am "off"  Camino topic, but it seems to me that Peter, Saint 
James, Rome and Santiago are inextricaboly intertwined.
Big hug!
Rosina