It was an impromptu moment, almost missed. But Pope Francis’ fleeting blessing of Chester County boy Michael Keating was unforgettable.
Pope Francis was already in his car, ready to move on from the Philadelphia International Airport and start his visit in the City of Brotherly Love. But then he caught a glimpse of the boy from Elverson whose cerebral palsy confines him to a wheelchair.
“When he kissed my son, it was wonderful,” Keating’s mother, Kristin, said in a Washington Post report. “I know it’s life-changing for our family.”
Keating and his family were at the airport to watch his father, Chuck, lead Downingtown’s Bishop Shanahan High School Band in a special number to welcome the pope.
“My faith has always been strong,” Chuck said in the article. “Michael has always been a blessing. Michael’s the one who taught me the value of a hug and a kiss. He is a gift from God.”
The pope’s spontaneous acts of love have been extraordinary during his first visit to the United States.
“Pope Francis’s encounters with children — in which he often kisses them, bends over to make eye contact and smiles with clear pleasure — have become some of his most iconic moments during his historic six-day trip to the U.S.,” the Post article noted.
Read much more about his blessing of Michael Keating and the other instances of blessing children in the Washington Post here.
