Gorgeous Lesson Activity for The Vatican Apostolic Palace — Perfect for Art History, Humanities, and English Language Arts (Grades 10-12)

Explore the Vatican Apostolic Palace After Pope Leo XIV’s Election

Bring the renewed buzz surrounding the Vatican Apostolic Palace straight into your classroom! Our print-and-digital lesson lets students in grades 10-12 investigate how papal power, art, and architecture intersect, using maps, primary sources, and CCSS-aligned analysis tasks.

Why You’ll Love This Resource

• Interdisciplinary power: Perfect for Art History, Social Studies, and ELA crossover units.
• Primary-source rich: Includes Mary W. Arms’s 1909 account of an audience with Pope Pius X, plus two lavishly illustrated cards on the Sala Regia and Sala Ducal.
• Two vintage maps: A 1929 Vatican City plan and a 1914 floor map of the palace help students visualize the popes’ world.
• Ready-to-teach supports: Teacher notes, Cornell and illustrated notetakers, Frayer vocabulary model, 23-question bank, exit tickets, and a two-point rubric keep planning time low.

Inside the Download

Formats: PDF • Google Slides

Student-facing materials — anchor charts of key figures and places, guided overview text, map activities, primary-source reading card, supplemental art cards, notecatchers, vocabulary practice, and exit tickets.
Teacher-facing materials — answer keys, rubric, and extension ideas that invite students to research figures like Bernini, Bramante, and Pope Sixtus V.

Classroom Ideas

1. Map Race: Assign small groups a list of palace rooms—first team to locate them on the 1914 plan wins candy.
2. Socratic Seminar: Use the question bank to debate whether modern popes should still live in the Apostolic Palace.
3. Art + Lit Connection: Pair Vasari’s frescoes of papal triumphs with passages from Dante or Petrarch for a thematic collage.

Ready to Dive In?

Download the free resource and add it to your teacher toolkit, and let your students traverse centuries of Vatican history without leaving their seats.

© 2025 Stones of Erasmus. Public-domain images courtesy of Google Books and The New York Public Library.

On How To Meet a Pontiff (Or, That Day I Attended a Private Audience with John Paul II)

When I was a Roman Catholic Seminarian, and the very young age of nineteen, I was in a private audience with the then Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, John Paul II

To say that I met and chatted with the leader of the Roman Catholic Church would be a stretch. But I did kiss his ring. And I got to see him in his private chapel and in his private library in the Vatican.

I attended a private audience with about twenty-five other people — mostly priests and seminarians. It was the year 2000—around Christmas time—and I was in Rome with other American seminarians from the American College in Leuven, Belgium (where I was a college seminarian at the Catholic University of Leuven). At the time I was studying to be a priest, and our group was invited to have a private audience. The story went that when John Paul II was a seminarian in Krakow, Poland, his seminary was suppressed by the Nazis and apparently, the American College, in Leuven, had sent over, secretly, supplies, books, and the sort, to Poland, as a sign of support and solidarity.

We were in Rome for two weeks, staying as guests at the Pontifical North American College (located on the Janiculum hill) — but we didn't know what day our audience would happen. There are security protocols one follows when scheduled to meet the Pope. The Vatican gave a call to our group leader, a Benedictine priest named Aurelius Boberek, the night before and he then contacted us to be on the ready. We're meeting the pope!

The Bronze Doors

The night I heard the message I had to scrap my plans for the following day. I was planning to visit the catacombs of Saint Callistus. Oh well, I thought, a papal visit trumps all of that. So we had to wake up early — to arrive at the Bronze doors of the Vatican Apostolic Palace at the crack of dawn. You enter the doors from the right colonnade in Saint Peter's Square. Once we were green-lit to proceed, we were inside the Apostolic Palace — which extends as a grand loggia, designed by the Renaissance artist Raphael. It serves as an official portal and links up with the jumble of buildings that comprise the palace.

John Paul II had a private chapel in the papal apartments, located in the upper floors of what is officially called the Palace of Sixtus V, where he celebrated an early mass. It was so quiet when we arrived one could hear a pin drop. The Pope enters the sanctuary fully vested and he celebrated the Mass in the old Latin rite style — facing the altar (and not facing the people). I think I read one of the readings for the Mass (Or, maybe I read the intercessions. I cannot remember, exactly). So did my classmate Brent Necaise, who was a student with me — I was from Louisiana and he was from Mississippi). Afterward, the Pope's private secretary, a fellow by the name of Stanislaus Dziwisz, escorted us to the private study (or was it the library?) of the Pope.

It was Christmas time, so in the Pope's library there was a stately Christmas tree with ornaments painted with images of John Paul II. I remember thinking that was funny for some reason. I guess if you are Pope you get used to seeing your image affixed to everything from postage stamps, money, and ornaments. I remember all of the furniture was elegant but not overstated. It was a brightly lit room. And there was a wooden barrister bookcase with nicely appointed leather-bound books.

The Pope entered shortly after we had congregated and took a seat in a white plush chair. Everyone in our group lined up to meet him one by one, by kissing his ring, and stating our home state in the United States. When it was my turn he said softly, "Oh. The Mardi Gras," because it was announced I was a seminarian from Louisiana, and when another seminarian said he was from Kentucky he said, "Oh. Race horses." And it went like that — and each of us received a rosary and a holy card.

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