ROME — On Halloween inside the majestic St. Peter’s Basilica, eyes burn from a dense fog of incense. As the sound of an organ soars off the pilasters, a procession of priests pass the Pietà, one of the world’s most iconic sculptures, the one where Michelangelo made cold marble malleable, draping it in waves like a gossamer curtain. It could be any day at the Vatican, but in place of a College of Cardinals there are two colleges and a collage of quarterzips. Rome is besieged by a sea of Villanova and Notre Dame logos.

St. Peter’s, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, is closed to all tourists until the afternoon. Few things can shutter the bronze doors to the 12 million annual visitors. College basketball has now joined the list of conclaves and canonizations.

Under St. Peter’s gilded ceilings, Golden Domers and Philly Main Liners come for a celebration, not just of a season’s beginning but also of a commemoration of history’s first American pope.…