In early November Vinicio traveled with his aunt and dozens of others from northern Italy to Vatican City, where they attended a morning public audience held by Pope Francis. Vinicio, who has difficulty staying on his feet for long, was in a wheelchair.
"We didn't think we would be so close to the Pope, but the Swiss Guard kept ushering us forward until we were in a corner in the front row," recalled Lotta, a women in her late sixties with a quick smile and an infectious laugh.
"When he came close to us," she said, "I thought he would give me his hand. Instead he went straight to Vinicio and embraced him tightly. I thought he wouldn't give him back to me he held him so tightly. We didn't speak. We said nothing but he looked at me as if he was digging deep inside, a beautiful look that I would never have expected."
Vinicio, accustomed to stares of shock and fear, was initially confused by the pontiff's lack of hesitation. "He didn't have any fear of my illness," he said. "He embraced me without speaking ... I quivered. I felt a great warmth."
In moments of drama, odd details often remain vivid. "I looked down at his shoes," Vinicio's aunt recalled. "They were like this," she said, holding her hands apart and laughing. "I thought yes, this is someone who really walks."
The entire encounter lasted little over a minute, and soon Vinicio and his aunt were back on the bus, Vinicio in a state of combined shock and joy.
"He was almost not himself," Lotta said. "He was shaking."
"I felt I was returning home ten years younger, as if a load had been lifted," Vinicio said.
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Topic: Pope´s embrace (Read 1154 times)