A core group of influential knights decided to go ahead, and make it up to the Pope later.
The White House asked for this meeting, even adjusting the president's schedule to make it possible before the pope leaves for Switzerland on Saturday.
Its fanaticism, its implicit totalitarianism (with inquisitors investigating every crevice of its victims' lives, from how they cooked chicken to how they made love), its sheer bureaucratic brutality — in short, its surprise, fear, ruthless efficiency, and fanatical devotion to the Pope — make it central to who we are and what we do.
The impact will make it harder for future Popes to change," said American reporter Tad Szulc, author of a forthcoming biography of John Paul.
Luciano Belloni, owner of the Zeffirino restaurant, who used to send fresh pesto to Frank Sinatra's Ligurian mother and who has made it for Pope Francis, said other nuts won't do.
He was also a man who was known to want to reconquer Rome from the pope and make it into Italy's capital.
"It's like the last time you're going to see him," she said, adding that she did not expect the pope to make it to the next World Youth Day in 2005.
"I am used to the heat, and I have no right to be sleepy if the pope can make it," Sabin Sonhaye, 29, a student from Togo, said at the Saturday night vigil.
Others say its experience hosting major events such as the annual Carnaval or last year's visit by Pope France make it uniquely prepared to handle huge crowds.
"And Mr. Pope and his colleagues make it tougher".
