You could see it in his eyes. Even before Pope Francis spoke his first words to the throngs in St. Peter's Square, you could look into his eyes and sense the wonder. The world was looking at him. But he was looking at something, too: at all those upturned faces. At all the eyes staring back at him. Nothing can possibly prepare a person for such a sight. In this life, there are moments, and then there are Moments. The first appearance of a new pope on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica has always been a Moment like no other. Before there was telegraphy, before there was radio, before there was television, before there was the Internet, before there was Twitter, the vision -- the solemn orchestration -- of a newly elected pope stepping onto the balcony was the most dramatic possible way of bringing huge news to the world. It somehow still is. I would like to thank you for your embrace, the new pope said, gazing out at all those eyes. When authors and orators have searched for ways to express the ultimate example of reverential exaltation, the periodically repeated scene in St. Peter's Square, down through the centuries, has often been the one they have turned to. Tom Wolfe, in his book The Right Stuff, about the original Mercury astronauts, wanted to describe for readers just what level of devotion the newly named astronauts had received from the American people. The seven