I had now so often said, “I will ask the Pope!” that I myself became rather curious as to what his answer would be, and I resolved to make my joke earnest. I had always regarded Pio Nono as an unusually liberal Catholic, and his amiable appearance, as well as the liberal sympathies which he avowed at the time of his ascending the Pontifical throne, had won my heart. For these, and other reasons, I was glad to have an opportunity of a nearer view of Pio Nono.
I preferred my request for an audience through our kind and ever-benevolent and polite Scandinavian Consul, Cavaliere Bravo; and two days afterwards, early in the morning, I received a command to go that same day to the Vatican. The printed letter by which this was communicated, contained also directions as to how I was to be dressed—namely, in black silk, with a vail.
At four o'clock, accordingly, last Sunday afternoon, I was in the saloons of the Vatican, to which I was introduced by a young page in a scarlet silk dress. In one large room, ornamented by two large pictures, several ladies and some gentlemen were seated, waiting for their summons, they also having requested audiences. The Pope on Sunday afternoons gives audience, especially to ladies, who are allowed however to be accompanied by their husbands or sons. We waited about an hour. I contemplated the two large pictures, which occupied two whole walls of the apartments. They were paintings of a middling quality, representing the revelation of L'Immaculate Virgine to Pio Nono, and of his solemn announcement of this dogma in the church of St. Peters.
