(25 Dec 2021) LEAD IN:
The luxurious private apartments of popes from the past are now open to the public.
The Lateran Apostolic Palace in Rome was the papal residence for almost a thousand years before it was moved to the Vatican in the 14th century.

STORY-LINE:
When you think of Christianity and Rome, the Vatican is what springs to mind — the home of popes and the colonnaded square that welcomes visitors into the massive, marbled St. Peter's Basilica at its core.
But the first organized church in Rome was actually built across the Tiber River in the fourth century by the Emperor Constantine at St. John Lateran, today the basilica for the city of Rome.
Along with its adjoining buildings, St. John was the official residence of the popes until the papacy moved to Avignon at the start of the 1300s.
Visitors can now access ten rooms in the palace - guided by nuns from the order of Missionaries of Divine Revelation nuns.
They include the dining room, the library, the bedroom and the private chapel where two golden shrines surmounted by ancient tapestries stand near the altar.  
The palace is part of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. The building is associated with the Roman Emperor Constantine, who is credited with stopping persecutions against Christians by allowing them to practice their religion.  
In a room dedicated to the emperor an imposing fresco displays him seeing the Holy Cross appear in the sky.
Constantine built the first Christian Basilica that became the Holy See of the Pope on the land that once belonged to the family of Laterans.
The Lateran Apostolic Palace, erected nearby to host the residence of the pontiff, also called in Latin "Patriarchium", was inaugurated by Pope Silvester I in 324 C.E.  
The palace was the official residence of the popes until the papacy moved to Avignon at the start of the 1300s.
Oddly, while the site was home to popes up until the 14th century, the current palace has never been a papal residence.
After the return from Avignon in 1377, popes lived at the Vatican or in other church properties around Rome.
Pope Sixtus V, pontiff from 1585-1590, had the Lateran Palace built because he felt that St. John needed an adjoining episcopate, or household for the papal court.
He had 12,000 square yards of frescoed galleries and salons built over seven months to serve as the papal apartments.
But no pope wound up living in the new palace because, at the time, it was located outside Rome's city walls and was considered too small to house the papal court.
"Until the 14th century it (the Lateran Palace) has been the residence of the Popes, then the Pope moved to Avignon in France, so this area that, which was already in the suburbs, once the Pope comes back to Rome was found abandoned, a looted site, a place of decay. So the Papal residence is transferred to the Vatican, some conclaves are celebrated in the curia of the Quirinal Palace. Pope Sistus V wanted to revitalize the palace by demolishing the ancient Patriarchium (the ancient Pontifical palace in Latin) and building the new palace, this apostolic palace,"  explains Sister Rebecca Nazzaro, missionary of the Divine Revelation.
This is the Throne Room where audiences with the Pope would be held.
The lavish golden throne is surmounted by the papal coat of arms and embellished with a decoration showing a personification of the Glory, portrayed in the middle of the ceiling and encircled by the representation of the Four Seasons.  
At the end of the tour a monumental staircase leads directly to the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. (Saint John in Lateran_

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