The day Pope Benedict ‘gave’ me a message
“I’m calling on behalf of the Holy Father.”
The priest from New Jersey working in the Vatican prefaced his words with a plea: “Please don’t hang up on me when I say what I’m about to say.”
He had learned from experience that day. Someone else thought his call was a prank.
It was just a week before the opening Mass of the Year of Faith at St. Peter’s Basilica, also the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. I was being invited to receive a message for all the women in the world (I kid you not).