Man with disfigured face recalls warmth of encounter with Pope
Rome, 14 December 2013: Oreste Tornani, a man with a severely disfigured face who
was blessed by Pope Francis at a recent General Audience, says he felt very close
to the Holy Father at their encounter.
The two met briefly on Nov. 20 following
the Pope's address in St. Peter's Square, as the Roman Pontiff spent several minutes
greeting the sick who were in attendance. “The Pope speaks very simply, cordially
and with a warm voice, and it's nice to hear him,” Tornani told CNA Dec. 9.
“When
I met him, he asked me how I was, how things were going, if I had any problems, and
where I was living.” During their encounter, Pope Francis kissed him and gave him
a blessing, making a gesture towards heaven.
Tornani explained that he was
working as a mechanic in a manufacturing plant at the age of 30 when he was shot in
the face. Although he survived and underwent numerous surgeries, his face was left
completely disfigured.
Now 60 and unemployed, he receives assistance from the
Maria Cristina Ogier Association, a Catholic center in Florence which helps the poor
and needy. Pope Francis' embrace of Tornani was not the first time such an act
of his drew widespread attention.
During World Youth Day, the Pope blessed
a newborn baby girl suffering from anencephaly, a condition in which part or all of
the brain is not developed.
And on Nov. 6, also following a General Audience,
the Holy Father greeted Vinicio Riva, whose neurofibromatosis has covered his body
with painful growths. Riva told the Daily Mail later that month that being hugged
by the Pope was “like paradise … he didn't even think about whether or not to hug
me. I'm not contagious, but he didn't know that. But he just did it: he caressed me
all over my face, and as he did I felt only love.”
Such warmth has contributed
to Time Magazine's choice of Pope Francis as 2013 “Person of the Year”; the publication
said he is changing the “tone and perception” of the Church. Source: CNA