VATICAN // Tucked behind the Sistine Chapel, the Stanza delle Lacrime (“Room of Tears”) is one of the Vatican’s most intimate and emotionally charged – yet very little known – spaces.
This small, unadorned chamber is where the newly elected pope retreats immediately after accepting the papacy, just moments before he is introduced to the world from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The room’s name comes from the powerful emotions that often overwhelm new popes as they realize the immense spiritual and human responsibility of leading millions of Catholics (currently 1.4 billion) worldwide.
Many have wept here, gripped by humility, awe, or even fear at the magnitude of their new role. Pope Leo XIII is said to have cried upon his election in 1878, believing himself too old for the job, while Pope John XXIII famously joked about his ill-fitting vestments in 1958.
Inside the Room of Tears, the pope-elect changes from the red robes of a cardinal into the white papal cassock. Three sizes of vestments – small, medium, and large – await him, along with boxes of shoes and other papal garments. Here, he pauses for prayer and reflection, sometimes alone, sometimes with the papal master of ceremonies, as he prepares for his first public appearance as the Successor of Peter.
A plaque, dated May 31, 2013, reads: “In this room, called ‘of tears’ starting from Gregory XIV who here, on December 5, 1590, just after being elected Pope, shed tears of emotion, the new Pontiff, after accepting the election, puts on his own clothes.” The symbolism is profound: more than a change of clothing, it marks a transformation of identity. As Monsignor Marco Agostini, papal master of ceremonies, explained to the Italian agency Agenzia Nuova, it is in this room that “the Pope becomes aware of what he has become, of what he is from now on. The changing of his clothes speaks of the profound change in his existence. In that place he learns that the office is greater than the person.”
The post The Room of Tears: Where Cardinal Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV appeared first on CatholicVote org.