If not for the presence of a dozen NYPD squad cars and at least as many uniformed cops on East 72nd between Fifth and Madison Monday morning, one would never suspect that Pope Benedict XVI would be staying on the well-heeled, quiet residential block during his three-day trip to the city beginning Friday.

The pope will be bunking with the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who lives in a townhouse at 20 East 72nd Street—just a stone’s throw from the Ralph Lauren store and an Egyptian Shawarma vendor camped on Madison Avenue on most weekdays.

Compared to the Vatican’s headquarters in Rome, the five-story, 10,960-square-foot, neo-Rennaissance residence of Vatican City's permanent UN observer is pretty inconspicuous. The iron grille doors are marked by two Coats of Arms of the Holy See—the papal insignia of two interlaced keys topped by a crown—carved in gold. The ground floors are made of rusticated limestone and the top two levels of rock-faced stone.  read more »