There was a moment during our live special coverage of Pope Leo's election that I will never forget.

Leo, who up until that day was known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, was addressing St. Peter Square in Italian.

It had been an open question of whether we would have a live translation. We didn't.

So NPR's longtime Rome correspondent, Sylvia Pajoli,

leapt into action. Peace be with all of you. Sylvia Pajoli was a key part of NPR's coverage

of the election of the first American pope. She's been a key part of NPR's Vatican coverage

since the days of Pope John Paul II. A few days before the conclave began,

I took a stroll through St. Peter Square

with someone that listeners have long viewed

as one of the most iconic voices in NPR history.

We're about to go into the center of the square

to try to have a little art history lesson.

Joly spent decades as NPR's Rome correspondent.

In addition to having one of listeners' most

beloved and recognizable outroes, Sylvia Paul Jolie, NPR News, Rome.

Pajoli helped establish the sound and standard for our news network.

This week's reporter's notebook begins with an art history and architecture lesson.

And we're standing here in the square, and this is the central visual of the Vatican.

But it also, the setting has played a role in so many big ceremonial events that get international attention, papal funerals, installation masses.

And it seems like the setting is as much of the story as what

the Cardinals and the popes are saying in the setting. Oh, absolutely. I'm not so sure if it would

look half as exciting, half as dramatic without this incredible square, the basilica, which was

...