Exceptional encounters with the Pope

Eye contact
I was assigned to the security detail for the Pope's visit to Newark. At the time, my daughter was being treated for Nueroblastoma, a very nasty pediatric cancer. As the Pope mobile passed the area that I was assigned, he was blessing the crowd that had formed to meet him. As I made the sign of the cross, he looked briefly at me and we made eye contact for just a second. I felt that my daughter would be alright. Now, some nine years later, she is considered "cured". I began to walk parallel to the Popemobile for about 20-25 yards as it approached the front of the cathedral. I looked at the jumbotron Television screen that was erected and saw that I was on TV with the Pope. I went home and luckily a friend had recorded the news coverage. SO now I have a video of the Holy Father and me.
—Bill Whitley, Basking Ridge, N.J.

Blessed twice
I am humbled to have been blessed twice by the pope.  I am told that he first blessed me in 1976 when my parents were visiting Europe and I was still in the womb!  I actually recall the second remarkable encounter, which was during his visit to Columbia, South Carolina in the mid-1980s.  I was a member of the Greater Columbia Children's Choir, and we sang for him at the Williams Brice stadium.  He blessed each and every choir member.  Our choir also appeared in a local commercial with him, and his blessing me was part of the final cut.  My family still treasures the video footage and especially the sacred memories of the truly unforgettable spiritual experience.
—Kathryn Burns Nelson, Charlotte, N.C.

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