I leave tomorrow morning for a brief business trip to the States, but before I go I will be interviewing Mary Ann Glendon, president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and, as you know from reading “Joan’s Rome,” she is also a very good friend. The interview will be for a future edition of my weekend radio show – “Vatican Insider!”

I will also be interviewing Cardinal Francis George when I am in Chicago later this week. That too will be for “Vatican Insider.” The cardinal is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his appointment by John Paul II as archbishop of Chicago on May 7 and there have been many events planned around this date to make that milestone.

Because I will be away, my weekend radio show will feature “the best of” some of my past interviews and also a Q&A segment or two.

Today, however, I want to tell you about my weekend because focus was on a dear friend, Joe Grieboski, who was married Saturday in St. Mary Major by Cardinal Bernard Law, archpriest of this papal basilica.

The festivities began Friday evening with a lovely dinner for Joe and Sarah, in the company of many friends and relatives who had come to Rome for the afternoon ceremony on Saturday. Friends from Rome included a number of ambassadors – all good friends of Joe’s – one of whom, Francis Campbell, Her Britannic Majesty’s ambassador to the Holy See, also read the Prayers of the Faithful at the wedding ceremony. Francis is a very special person and Joe and I met and became friends through him.

Couples who marry in Rome usually have their wedding photos taken in and around the city’s monuments such as the Roman Forum, Colosseum and even St. Peter’s Square, and Sarah and Joe were no exception so there was a fair time interval Saturday between wedding and reception. Their reception was held in the Palm Garden Courtyard at the world famous Hassler Hotel atop the Spanish Steps in a spot known as Trinita dei Monti. The hotel is magnificent, its service impeccable and it affords one of the best views of all of Rome from its dining room and rooftop terrace .

The entire weekend was jubilant and joyful – and the rain that threatened every afternoon held off until this morning.

An extra added special element marked the entire weekend because Joe was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize! So we were celebrating that huge honor as well!!

Joe is the founder and president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, an international, inter-religious non-profit organization devoted to ensuring freedom of religion as the foundation for security, stability, and democracy. IRPP works globally with government policymakers, religious leaders, business executives, academics, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations and others in order to develop, protect, and promote fundamental rights - especially the right of religious freedom - and contributes to the intellectual and moral foundation of the fundamental right of religious freedom. Its signature program is the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom, which was celebrated last year in Rome and hosted by the Gregorian University. This conference – and the Institute’s work in general - led to IRPP’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Joe told me that “the Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom offers an opportunity for the true advancement of democracy in the international system. By connecting the most democratic elements of governments – parliaments – rather than the least democratic elements – foreign ministries – the IPC fosters international collaboration in the service of the values, desires, dreams, goals, futures, and needs of actual human beings rather than abstract conceptions of national interest of governments.”

He added that “It is an unbelievable honor for us to be nominated for the Prize. Our work is our mission, our vocation. To be recognized for carrying out our life’s work is a wonderful attribution for us, and provides us an inspiration as we continue in the battle for freedom the Institute is waging. Knowing that we are contributing to the democratic, security, and fundamental rights advancement in the world is a tremendous honor, but also an incredible weight. It is our hope not that we are worthy to receive the Prize, but that our work has enough impact to warrant the Prize and nomination.”

I have read many of the letters from high ranking officials and world leaders who have endorsed this nomination with the Nobel Committee, and it would be my sincere hope and prayer that next October, when the winners are announced, we will hear Joe’s name and that if IRPP.

Before I close today’s column, I want to share another joy with you. Just moments ago, as the Holy See Press Office Bulletin was released, I read that another friend received an honor. Msgr. Peter Elliott, episcopal vicar for the archdiocese of Melbourne in Australia, was named auxiliary of the same archdiocese. Congratulations, my friend!

Msgr. Peter and I met during the years we both worked for the Vatican – he at the Pontifical Council for the Family and I for the Vatican Information service. We were both named to the Holy See delegation to the 1994 U.N. Conference on Population in Cairo, and then as members of subsequent delegations to other U.N. conferences, becoming fast friends over that period. A native of Melbourne, he was received into the Catholic Church during theology studies at the University of Oxford, and was ordained a priest in 1973 during the 40th International Eucharistic Congress.

I would ask you to remember Sarah and Joe in your prayers as they begin their new life as a married couple and also to pray for Msgr. Peter as he too enters a new phase of priesthood, with all the responsibilities borne by a bishop.

Have a lovely week and join me here at “Joan’s Rome” next week when I return to the Eternal City.

God sit on your shoulder!

joansrome@ewtn.com