Shehecheyanu with the Pope: A Meaningful Encounter

Hello, friends.

I got to meet the pope! I got to meet the pope! (Whom I affectionately refer to as "Papa F" in my mind.)

I was recently so blessed to be in Rome for a few days of an interfaith conference, a reunion for John Paul II Leaders from around the world--alumni of the program that brought me to study at two pontifical universities in Rome back in 2013-2014, with students from across the different years. I had met some before, and some were new to me. The program included meeting, talking, and planning for interfaith work. I presented about the women's interfaith conference I organized last year, we had posters up of our projects, we had a training on combating antisemitism, and more. We were back at my old university, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, which everyone call the Angelicum or just "the Ang."

Our whole group at the Vatican

We were a group of about 35 people--lay people and clergy, nuns and priests and people from all over: India. Bangladesh. The U.S. Nigeria. Romania. Israel. Ukraine, and more. It was one of those moments when I truly feel a part of G-d's garden, blessed to be around so many different people. As you know, my whole goal in life is for all of us to have more and deeper meaningful encounters with people across lines of religious difference, and this was a beautiful time for that.

During the week, I also had the great honor to briefly meet Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, for a few meaningful moments at a recent Papal Audience, the public meeting he holds almost every Wednesday morning. It was incredible and I am so grateful to the folks who made it happen. Pope Francis has done work on interfaith dialogue and I was so happy to meet him briefly.

I would love to share a bit about what happened when I met Pope Francis:

I was fortunate to have a "Baciamano" or a "Kiss [the] Hand" ticket, I suspect since many Catholics opt to kiss the pope's hand upon meeting him, due to the kindness of a lovely priest in Rome with whom I have become friendly over the years. (I was even able to come to the audience not from outside, but from within the Vatican, so that we emerged out of the front doors of St. Peter's Basilica--what a magical moment.) The baciomano ticket meant that I was sitting up at the front with a few other members of our group in a few rows of people also afforded this opportunity to meet him.

The view from my seat

 

My understanding was that Italian or Spanish were going to be easier options than English for him for our conversation, and so I opted for Italian. I walked up, held out my hand to shake his, and said:

"Piacere. Mi chiamo Allyson. Saró una rabbina tra due settimane."/"Nice to meet you. My name is Allyson. I will be a rabbi in two weeks."

And he got so excited! He immediately started saying a lot in Italian, which was clearly positive and upbeat and I think perhaps included something along the lines of, "We all share the same G-d." I wish I could have caught more of it, but I felt what he meant. I had been so focused on getting my own Italian right, I did not even think that he might respond and that I should be ready to listen!

 

When he finished, I then said:

"Posso preghere brevamente?"/"Can I pray briefly?" (Yes, I got the Italian a bit wrong.)

He then closed his eyes and lowered his head, which I found incredibly touching because he showed me great honor in doing so, and I said in Hebrew our prayer for special moments, the Shehecheyanu:

Us in prayer

Then I said, "Grazie a Dio per este momento."/"Thank you, G-d, for this moment." (Yes, that's a mix of Italian and Spanish, oops.)

He then looked up, and I suspect knowing I did not quite get all of his Italian, said in English:

"G-d bless you," and I said back, "You, too." Then I walked off, was able to receive a rosary for my mom, and was just so happy. Afterward, our entire group was able to come forward to take a photograph with him as well. Not long after the experience, I was able to FaceTime my mom (thank goodness for technology), back in New York at 5:30 a.m. her time and while sharing my story, she immediately began sobbing. It was very moving.  

It was amazing and moving and a joy to meet him. It also feels surreal that it happened. It almost felt normal to just walk up and meet the pope, and I am so happy it could happen.

Please notice the joy on our faces, especially some of the religious folks closest to him

As a note of amazement, Pope Francis really that day (and I imagine many others) meets so many people, one after another, individual after individual, group after group. His genuineness, his joy, was infectious in every interaction I witnessed--I give him so much credit for bringing such joy to so many people. There will always be things on which we all disagree, but his passion for people and his love for diversity were evident even in these brief moments.

My experience meeting the pope was also an exciting thing for a number of other people, with a number of lovely people eager to share the encounter, as well. There was an article that week in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, by the passionate Elena Dini, Senior Program Manager of the John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue. It's in Italian, but basically relays this story of my exchange with the pope (I know it is a bit blurry, apologies!):

There was also a piece on Radio Vaticana about the experience with Elena, the section about our experience and my prayer specifically (it's in Italian, if you're interested go to 17:00):

https://www.vaticannews.va/it/podcast/rvi-programmi/la-finestra-del-papa/2022/05/la-finestra-del-papa-prima-parte-05-05-2022.html?fbclid=IwAR322HDgM3nLxTZ85T_vQS_0TVdyvdv-J8I3Qx1DyK3Z-BETFhxUdQNh47k

At the end of our conference, a facilitator asked us all to share a main memory from our time together. The answer from one of the other women in our group? "Allyson's face after she met the pope."

I wish I could convey to you the joy I felt at being in relationship with so many beautiful people for the week as part of my conference. Having people ask me genuine questions about Judaism. Talking about the importance of doing this interfaith work. I was truly with my people, because we get it--we know how important it is to connect across lines of difference. We are all operating in such different contexts, and the stories I heard from some of these places about the struggles of connecting are incredibly raw and real, including significant danger in doing this work in the midst of violence. But we nevertheless persist in the work, and I am so grateful for the time we spent together.

I wish for you all meaningful moments of encounter in your own lives. I share my story of encounter so that you can also feel encouraged to reach out across lines of difference: take the risk, make the connection, ask the question, share your perspective. Amazing things can come, holy things, if we only take the step and outstretch our hand in friendship.

 

Now go out and love one another.

<3, 

Allyson