Parents: Speechless after Pope hugged disabled son

[jimnyc]

http://i.imgur.com/EGOe9WP.jpg

I honestly never heard of this Pope before he was elected. I'm loving him more and more as each day passes. He is so down to earth and kind.


JOHNSTON, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island couple says they were speechless and moved to tears when Pope Francis hugged and kissed their 8-year-old son in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday.

Paul and Christina Gondreau of Johnston and their five children attended Easter Mass at the Vatican. The pope cradled their son, Dominic, who has cerebral palsy.

Videos and photos of the pontiff standing in the "popemobile" and holding Dominic were transmitted worldwide. Pope Francis also hugged and kissed other children as he greeted the crowd after Mass.

Paul Gondreau is a theology professor at Providence College and is teaching this semester in Rome.

A story on the Providence College website says Paul Gondreau called the moment "an incredibly moving encounter." He says his son teaches him daily lessons about how to love.

http://news.yahoo.com/parents-speechless-pope-hugged-disabled-son-115148536.html

[Abbey Marie]

He seems like the real deal.

He did something this weekend that I dream of doing: He visited the tomb of Peter in the necropolis below the Basilica. Awesome!

[jimnyc]

He seems like the real deal.

He did something this weekend that I dream of doing: He visited the tomb of Peter in the necropolis below the Basilica. Awesome!

I read that too. I thought I read that this is rare, that other Popes haven't went down there? Is this true? And if so, why?

[Abbey Marie]

I read that too. I thought I read that this is rare, that other Popes haven't went down there? Is this true? And if so, why?

I wondered that as well. I would have done it on my first day!

[jimnyc]

Here is where I got it from:


VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday took an emotional, close-up look at the tomb of Peter, the church’s first pontiff, buried beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican said.

By doing so, Francis became the first pontiff to visit the necropolis, where pagans and early Christians were buried, since extensive archaeological excavations were conducted at the ancient site decades ago, the Vatican said.

The 45-minute ‘‘visit of devotion to the tomb of St. Peter’’ was private, the Vatican said, but it later released a video of it.

The basilica was built over the location where early Christians would gather in secret, at a time of persecution in ancient Rome, to pray at an unmarked tomb believed to be that of Peter, the apostle Jesus chose to lead his church.

The Vatican first said Francis would pray at Peter’s tomb, but later said he prayed instead in the basilica.

The new pope ‘‘paused in silent prayer, in profound and emotional meditation’’ in the Clementine Chapel in the vast basilica that is ‘‘the closest place (in the basilica) to the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles,’’ it said.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/2013/04/01/pope-pray-peter-tomb-vatican/EmWBlSxJJMdIpg7OWXOHoM/story.html

[jimnyc]

Never mind, reread and see it says SINCE the excavations, which I think were in the 40's?

[Abbey Marie]

Never mind, reread and see it says SINCE the excavations, which I think were in the 40's?

But still, that means several Popes didn't bother to visit it, right?

[avatar4321]

It's kind of sad that this is radical for someone who holds the position of leader of most of the Christian world.

Shouldn't this be normal?

[Kathianne]

I love the pic of his embracing the CP boy, but I don't think by a long shot that it is an abnormal shot of pope or religious or politician.

I'm not being jaded, just realistic.