This year, the custom has been no less spectacular, as photos from a reader based in Rome indicate. Our correspondent was kind enough to include photos of the ancient statue of Saint Peter on the north side of the nave, vested in martyr-red brocade and an immense jeweled triregno to mark the occasion. More experienced Vatican-watchers than I may be able to gage if the statue of the first pope is more splendidly arrayed this year than before; at the very least I think I can glimpse the sleeve of an alb that I thought had not been used some years ago.
One particularly delightful detail is the fictive but wholly appropriate attributed coat-of-arms of Pope St. Peter on the ends of his papal mantle. [Update: Actually, these were positively identified as the arms of the Reverenda Fabbrica di S. Pietro; and the cope used is not a mantum.]
Another interesting detail is that the two reliquary-statues of SS. Peter and Paul were placed on the high altar, despite the fact the liturgy of the day occurred at the less-than-felicitous freestanding altar of the Chair. While one should avoid turning Vatican-watching too much into a liturgical Kremlinology ("Is that Beria standing next to the General Secretary, on his left or on his right?" versus "Were there Cardinal deacons this go-round?") this all seems to me yet another promising sign from this most visible of our churches.
