This family from Atlanta, Georgia had been separated for nearly 500 days due to the pandemic. Their son was in Rome, and when borders closed due to the health crisis they were forced to live apart.
Their reunion brought them to St. Peter's, where they met the Pope, and even managed to give him a gift...
MICHAEL BUTORAC
“I recently finished a CD which I worked on during the Covid, to do with Israel and the Holy Land and I gave it to the Pope. He looked at it, he was very interested and he said 'it's for me?' And I said 'yes' and he kept it. So that's a good thing.”
THERESA BUTORAC
“It just gave you hope today, looking in his eyes, and his smile. It was just a lot of hope, that everything is going to be good.
MOUNTAIN BUTORAC
“It was a beautiful joy to be able to bring my parents to see the Pope after just seeing them for the first time in almost 500 days.
Many others got a chance to meet the Pope as well.
Lidia Maksymowicz was one of them. At nearly three years old she was sent to the death camp at Auschwitz. When she met Pope Francis she wore a striped scarf symbolizing the uniform she wore as a prisoner.
She then showed the Pope the tattoo of her Auschwitz prison number, which he kissed as a sign of respect.
Justin McLellan / Javier Romero
