LA media evangelist Noel Díaz reveals a parting gift from Pope Francis
His battered black shoes showed wear from prayer and intercontinental ministry last year when Pope Francis gave them to Noel Díaz, an evangelist and journalist from Los Angeles, as a sign of their friendship and of Jesus’ call to seek those on the peripheries.
Now, in death, Francis has also left Díaz and the Church another legacy: a newly released video in which he reflected on Peter, the first pope.
The pope and the journalist had bonded in 2016 when Díaz, once a street-corner shoeshine boy in Tijuana, shined Francis’ shoes on the papal plane as a symbol of the dignity of workers. Years later, Díaz told him, “Since I never had a dad who was close to me, I feel that you’re my dad. And he would give me advice on a personal level.”