Blessed by the Pope

During the Wednesday General Audience with Pope Francis, the Pope kissed and blessed all three of our children!!!

It was all made possible by the amazing Fransican students who got in got in line at 3am to be the first ones into St. Peter’s Square to reserve the front row seats, saved and defended seats for our group, and who held our kids up for the taking! Thank you!!!

Ellie was dressed as St. Therese, Francis as St. Francis, and Isaac was wearing a zucchetto (Pope hat).

When the pope first came out of the Vatican in the pope mobile (in the place behind the Swiss Guard where we were standing on our private tour a few days earlier), I was holding Isaac and hoping Pope Francis was stop to bless him as he had with Francis two years earlier. But he didn’t, he made a sign on the cross over our group as he went by. At that time we passed the kids over to the other side hoping they’d be blessed there. 

Brian and I stood on chairs a few rows back (now empty because all the students were up by the rails)... we watched the pope mobile drive around other sections and saw other children blessed on the Jumbotron. Then we saw the pope mobile heading back to the front section. We yelled for the kids to be passed back to students on the front rail. Just after they announced that students from Franciscan University were present - and all of us cheered - the Pope reached our section and stopped!!  The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. 

Francis was passed to the Pope first. After blessing him (yes, his second time), Pope Francis asked one of our students where we are from. Then they passed up Isaac and he was blessed. The pope again said something to our students and the pope mobile began to leave. Knowing he typically only blesses babies I thought he was leaving, and maybe he was, but just then another security guard picked up Ellie and she too was blessed by the pope! Brian and I watched it all in extreme gratitude and shock!

Brian and I were still beaming a few minutes later as the pope began his address - encouring is to really encounter Jesus and not just enter church as if it were a museum - the kids were tired out from all the excitement. Later that night when we put them to bed, Francis showed us where the pope had blessed him and Ellie described her feelings as she “almost had full on tears”.  We are truly blessed to have all of our children blessed by the Vicar of Christ, and to be raising them among amazingly generous students who show them what it’s like to be a Christian every day. 

The Sunday before we attended the papal audience, we gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus with the Pope. 

We then went into St. Peter’s Basilica. 

Here’s Francis posing by the cherub that we’re pretty sure he was a model for ;)

He has grown a lot since we were last here a year ago :)