Peter and His Churches

At Disney World.
Just as the worn-toed likeness of the first Pope traditionally gets decked out in pontificals (tiara and all) for today's feast and the 29 June solemnity of Peter and Paul, so does the life-sized bronze (right) at Orlando's sanctuary of Mary, Queen of the Universe. And this 22 February, the get-up's especially appropriate -- last summer, the Magic Kingdom's parish church, opened in 1993, became the US' 63rd minor basilica, becoming (by far) the youngest of those churches whose history and significance see them given the special link with the Roman pontiff.

Of the 65 US sites where the traditional ombrellino (left) and tintinnabulum are on display, half have received the distinction within the last two decades.
PHOTO: Loggiarazzi/Diocese of Orlando(1); Flickr(2)
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