Pope Francis' public audiences are suspended for the month of July, yet pilgrims continue to look back fondly on their close encounters with the Pope.
This group of friends got to meet the Pope, and even had him sign some pictures to send home to Guatemala.
MÉLIDA CORTEZ
“I wanted to tell him that my family prays for him a lot, and I made a photo collage of my family and he signed it with an “F.” I am going to send it home to my family, who will be very happy. Catherine from New Zealand was even able to kiss Pope Francis' silver pectoral cross'.
CATHERINE ASSEN
“I made a sign to try to get his attention, and he looked at it and was like “oh how cool,” then I asked him if I could kiss the cross he was wearing and he said yes.”
During her brief encounter with Pope Francis, Vitoria from Brazil was struck by how the Pope engaged with each person in the crowd.
VITORIA VOLPATO
“You can feel his closeness, how he likes to be close to the people. He is very gentle, he lets people touch him, and it really impressed me. Meeting him really had an impact on me.”
While the number of tourists coming to Rome steadily increases, pilgrims will have to wait until after the Pope's vacations to attend his Audiences and once again live scenes like these.
JM
