It’s Good To Be The Pope!

How wonderful would it be to go through life with an entourage that attends to your every whim? My husband would argue that I have such luxury but I would argue back and point fingers at Francis and it could get ugly so I won’t.
I was however curious to know who’s making the US rounds with the Pope so I dug around and found this, enjoy!
Here are the seven kinds of people you meet in a papal ‘Entourage’…how appropriate now that Mark Wahlberg emceed the ceremonies!? 😕

The pope’s entourage is about 100 people, which makes it less of a flock and more of a herd. No, His Holiness is not trailed by a stylist and personal trainer, although there is a papal physician and a few attendants in charge of wardrobe. When you’re traveling as both a head of state and the leader of a 2 billion-member church, you need some helpers.

The traveling papal entourage is a modern creation. No pope stayed overnight in the United States until John Paul II in 1979. With six weeks’ notice, the Vatican requested 400 hotel rooms in Boston, but the whole city was booked. (A local hotelier reportedly advised them to try Providence, R.I.)

Over time the entourage has shrunk, as Francis purged stowaway cardinals and other hangers-on, but the local, on-the-ground operations have gotten bigger and bigger, especially in the District. Here are the 7 types of members of the papal entourage that’s boomeranging along the Eastern Seaboard this week:

1. Members of the papal household, including Sandro Mariotti, alternately called the pope’s valet, butler or assistant. This is the guy who makes sure the pope’s hands are always free. Not a day goes by when I don’t ‘pray’ for one of these!

When someone gives something to Francis, Francis gives it to Mariotti, who’s also on umbrella duty and is in charge of making sure the papal suitcase is packed and unpacked…ugh, now I’m really jealous! 
Also in this group: Vatican secretaries, the physician and papal household prefect “Gorgeous George,” a.k.a. Archbishop Georg Gänswein, whose Old Testament good looks landed him on the cover of Italian Vanity Fair a couple of years ago.

1. The masters of ceremonies. Led by Monsignor Guido Marini, this team coordinates the pope’s liturgical events: Masses, vespers, anything requiring props and public prayer. John Paul II liked colorful celebrations, while Benedict XVI preferred a sedate liturgy. Marini’s job is to thread papal preferences into the pageantry.
   “The Masses around the world with John Paul II were considered very colorful, and Benedict preferred a more sedate, liturgical style — Marini was able to accommodate that,” says Matthew Bunson, author of “The Pope Encyclopedia.” “Pope Francis has retained Guido Marini, and he has adjusted to Francis’s particular tastes” — simple and straightforward.
   
   Read on for more, I’m going in search of a Mariotti plus, Jacob’s getting tired of holding the phone while I blog 😉

Alya