This is one of my favorite pictures of the Pope, partly because of the personal aspect of it. On Wednesday, May 16, 2000, my brother John’s family received the extraordinary privilege of meeting Pope John Paul II at his Wednesday general audience. At the time, the Holy Father granted special blessings to my three nephews, Peter, Joseph, and JohnPaul (pictured above). (Nephew Domenic and niece Catherine were not here yet.) Little JohnPaul was two years old and the Holy Father embraced each of them. A Reuters photographer captured the moment above and it ran in several international newspapers, including the London Guardian, on the next day, the Pope’s 80th birthday. What an extraordinary moment and extraordinary privilege.
Copies of this photo hang in my parish, in the homes of my family, and have been handed out to many people who were moved by the photo as I was.
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