Pope Francis gazed over the ancient ruins of the Roman Forum during a visit to Rome’s historic Capitoline Hill on Monday in which he reflected on how the “Rome of the Caesars’” transformed into the “Rome of the Popes.”

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri, the pope took in the view from a balcony overlooking the third-century Arch of Septimius Severus of the archaeological site of what was once the heart of ancient Rome.