Pope sends birthday greetings to 104-year-old nun

(Sept.21, 2011) Pope Benedict XVI sent birthday greetings to a Spanish Cistercian nun, Sister Teresita who turned 104 last Friday. The Pope met the nun personally last Aug. 20, when he was in Madrid for World Youth Day. That meeting was only the second time the nun had ever left her cloister, the first having been during the tragic circumstances of the Spanish Civil War. Sister Teresita has spent 85 years in the cloister, more than anyone else known to history. She expressed her desire to meet the Pope shortly before his Madrid journey, and the apostolic nuncio in Spain, Archbishop Renzo Fratini, shortly thereafter confirmed that it would be possible.Their meeting was very moving. The centenarian remained seated, as Pope Benedict chatted with her and toward the end of their visit, fervently kissed his ring.
The Pontiff's happy birthday greetings were signed by Monsignor Peter Brian Wells, an official at the Vatican Secretariat of State. The Pope recalled their meeting and encouraged the nun to "continue firm in the Heart of Christ, being an ardent lamp of faith, hope and charity, and thus show the world that the fullness of life consists in joyfully fulfilling the will of God."
Sister Teresita entered the convent on the day that Joseph Ratzinger, the current pope was born, April 16, 1927. She was 19 at the time.