As news of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI spread Dec. 31, people began sharing their encounters and impressions of the pope who served the church so long and so faithfully, and who made news when he retired in 2013.
For Catholic journalists, some stories date back to his days as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Having covered the church for three decades, I’ve been privileged to cover several papal trips and papal visits — John Paul II in the Dominican Republic in 1992, at World Youth Day in Denver in 1993, and in Baltimore in 1996; Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, the U.S. and in Germany; and Pope Francis in Rome and in Washington.
After a few trips, you realize that covering a papal trip means using a long lens, climbing atop a steel-and-plywood platform at the other end of a field of faithful, and getting what you can in the way of photos and homily excerpts.
The real story was always the reaction of the crowds. How many lives must have been touched by a wave of his hand, his blessing and, for the lucky few, a handshake or a kiss on the forehead?
I often found myself a mere few yards from the pope but hadn’t met one personally … yet.
In September 2006, I was part of a small group of American journalists covering Pope Benedict’s trip back to his hometown in Bavaria. We covered his huge Mass at the former airport terminal in Munich, the pilgrimage destination of Altotting and his small hometown of Marktl am Inn.
Also on this trip was Christopher Gunty, then editor of the Florida Catholic and a longtime friend from the Catholic press. Halfway through that trip, Chris asked if I wanted to go for a walk after dinner through Oberammergau, the site of the Passion Play. I said yes. We married two years later. And Chris soon became associate publisher of the Baltimore Catholic Review.
We’ve travelled together to cover events in Rome, and we’ve been back to Bavaria twice.
In 2012, we covered the pallium ceremony for Baltimore’s newly appointed Archbishop William E. Lori at St. Peter’s Basilica.
Armed with press credentials, we were fortunate enough to get a spot on a press platform within yards of the altar at St. Peter’s. With a huge zoom lens and a monopod to steady it, the closest we got to the pope was many yards away snapping photos as he processed down the main aisle.
The day after the June 29 pallium ceremony, the pope held an audience for the new archbishops and their pilgrims. Each archbishop is permitted to take two people up to meet the Holy Father. To say it’s a privilege is an understatement.
About 90 minutes before the audience, Archbishop Lori asked if I would allow him to present me to Pope Benedict and also represent Chris as associate publisher of the Review.
It was one of those experiences that, as hard as you try, can’t be summed up in words, even for someone who makes a living working with words.
I told the archbishop I was overwhelmed, honored and so grateful to be asked. At that moment I made a silent request of my mother, who passed away just months earlier, “to help get me through this.” Secretly I wondered if she had whispered something into the archbishop’s ear prompting him to ask me to this great honor.
The archbishop also asked Msgr. Art Valenzano, rector of the oldest cathedral in the country located in Baltimore, to accompany him to meet the pope. Msgr. Art was dying of cancer and has since passed away.
We made our way down the main aisle of the Paul VI Audience Hall and to chairs on the steps leading to the papal chair. Finally, the audience began, and as the pope greeted the prelates and their faithful in their native tongues, shouts came from the audience, flags waved, some burst into song, all were ecstatic to be there.
The archbishop, the monsignor and I rehearsed our order, the introductions, the genuflecting on one knee and the kissing of the ring, and then we’d say a few words. I told Archbishop Lori the story about how Chris and I began dating on a papal trip. He said, “I hope we have time to tell the Holy Father this story.”
And we did.
As Msgr. Valanzano knelt, kissed his ring and chatted quietly with the pope for a little while, I took a deep breath. It was my turn. I think the archbishop introduced me as a very faithful Catholic journalist.
I told the pope that my husband and I had wanted to thank him because it was in September of 2006 when we both were covering his trip to Bavaria that we started dating. We had often said it was the pope who brought us together. And here I was telling him that very thing as he held both my hands in his hands.
His eyes sparkled and his face lit up as I told him our story. He smiled and said, “Oh yes, wonderful,” and “How nice.”
Archbishop Lori said a few more words to the pope. Although my feet must have been on the white marble steps, I’m not sure how I made it back to my seat.
Meeting the pope after all these years in the Catholic press, not from a plywood platform a football field away, but up close and in person, was such a gift.
Being asked to meet the Holy Father by the archbishop of Baltimore might remain one of the church’s great mysteries, but it will always be, for me, a generous, thoughtful gesture. The graces, the blessings and the emotions of this encounter are hard to put into words, even for a writer.
