The story
Corpus Christi at the Vatican in Vatican City/Rome
Corpus Christi at the Vatican centers on a Mass at the Archbasilica of St John Lateran followed by a mile-long Eucharistic procession through the streets of Rome to the Basilica of St Mary Major. The pope carries the consecrated host in a monstrance beneath a golden canopy, a tradition Pope John Paul II moved from inside the Vatican to Rome's open streets.
For roughly one mile on a June afternoon, traffic in central Rome gives way to incense, hymns and a slow procession carrying what Catholics believe to be the real presence of Christ through the open streets, a public counterpart to a feast otherwise marked quietly inside churches worldwide.