St. Peter's is so large that thirty services can be carried on at one time without one interfering with another. Inside the church everything is huge, to match the building. The statues of angels are the size of giants and the doves are the size of eagles. There is a bronze statue of St. Peter himself seated on a throne. This is one of the few statues there of natural size. Good Catholics from all over the World, when they come to St.Peter’s, kiss the statue’s bronze foot. So many millions have kissed it that they have kissed away all his toes.

At Easter and at other celebrations the inside walls of St.Peter’s are hung with crimson silk, thousands of candles burn, choir boys chant and altar boys swing smoke of burning incense to the high roof, while hundreds of priests in gorgeous robes and cardinals in red caps and red gowns and the Pope himself, the head of all the Catholics in the World, in glistening white, move in stately procession down the main aisle to the high altar, over the spot where, 1,900 years before, St. Peter himself was crucified and a Christian would have been afraid to show himself for fear of being killed.

The Pope lives next door to St. Peter’s in an immense house called the Vatican. Your house may have a dozen rooms, or perhaps even a score, but it is said that the Vatican contains more than a thousand rooms. There are so many rooms that probably no one has ever counted them all. Many of the large rooms are filled with famous pictures and sculpture. They are art museums which people may visit. One room is the Pope’s private chapel. It is called the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo painted pictures on the ceiling and walls of this chapel. In order to see the pictures on the ceiling comfortably you have to lie flat on your back or look at them in a mirror held in your hand.

Before the time of St. Peter, when people believed in many gods, another church was built in Rome “To All the Gods.” This building is still standing. It is called the Pantheon, which means “All Gods.” The Pantheon too has a dome, but it is not like St. Peter’s. The dome of St. Peter’s is like a giant cup turned upside down. The dome of the Pantheon is like a giant saucer turned upside down.