This priest from the Vatican Secretariat of State was unwittingly one of the central figures of the Pope's General Audience.
FR. ANTONIO HOFMEISTER
'He took me by the hand, to my surprise, and he led me to the Holy Father asking me to remove the Pope's zucchetto to give to him. And I said, no, no, we can't take it from the Pope...'
The little boy's name is Paolo Jr. At first he was seated next to the Pope, but he quickly became restless.
It was clear he wanted Pope Francis' white zucchetto cap at any cost.
ANTONIO HOFMEISTER
'The Pope treated him very kindly. It was great. Afterwards, one of the Pope's assistants had an extra zuchetto, one that was that was left over, and gave it to the child, and so now we have these pictures in which we see the child with the papal skullcap.'
Sandro, the pope's personal assistant, had to intervene and gave him the pope's spare cap.
The Pope later shared that Paolo Jr. had taught him a lesson.
POPE FRANCIS
'This child had the freedom to approach me, to act as if he were at home. And Jesus tells us, 'You too, if you do not behave like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.'”
It was a surprise for the Brazilian priest Antonio Hofmeister as well. He is from Porto Alegre, and when he arrived at the Vatican in August 2020 he couldn't have imagined being in a situation like this one in front of the Pope.
JMB
TR: JM
