Fr Louis Padua Meets Pope Francis
Fr Louis Padua meets Pope Francis. Photo:© Vatican Media
By Pietro Poggiali – On June 26 at the General Audience in St Peter’s Square, Rome, Fr Louis Padua from Cape Town Archdiocese was granted the special honour of personally meeting and greeting Pope Francis.
Fr Louis, 78 years old, is a retired diocesan priest currently residing in St Bernard of Clairvaux parish in Newlands, Cape Town and serving as Spiritual Director of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Cape Town. He was also one of the first parish priests who, in the years 1984-1985, under the strong encouragement of Cardinal McCann, helped initiate the Neocatechumenal Way in the diocese and supported it throughout its 40 years of missionary work so far in South Africa.
The audience with Pope Francis has been a gift after a two-week journey through Italy culminating in a meeting for all priests and formators from the Redemptoris Mater seminaries of Africa and Asia, which took place near the Loreto Shrine. “I thought that my travelling days were over,” said Fr Louis “but when I received the invitation to go to Italy, I immediately renewed my passport and all the doors opened in front of me”. This trip, passing through Florence, Pisa, Ivrea, Loreto and finally Rome, became the occasion to revisit many cherished places and, most of all, to see old friends. Among them, it was a great joy for him to see the first missionary family who brought the Neocatechumenal Way to South Africa, and also to meet with Kiko Arguello, the Spaniard who initiated this charisma after Vatican II with the Servant of God Carmen Hernandez.
The possibility of a personal meeting with the Pope came as a surprise for Fr Louis, though it was not the first time for him to approach Peter, the Vicar of Christ: “In my life I have known 7 Popes, starting from Pius XII, and I was blessed to encounter three of them face to face: the first was St Paul VI, who, at the time in which I was a seminarian at Propaganda Fide, met all the South Africans studying in Rome when Archbishop McCann was created a cardinal. Then during the World Youth Day in Czestochowa, Poland, I accompanied some of the youth from the communities in Cape Town and St John Paul II asked to meet the group. And now Pope Francis! In our brief exchange of words, the Holy Father seemed very interested to know where I came from and when, with the little Italian I remember, I said: “Father, South Africa is waiting for you!”, he simply answered: “Sì!”, which of course is Yes. I hope he will keep the promise”. Fr Louis was able to return to Cape Town tired but happy: every meeting had been an occasion for not only remembering the old times but to give glory to God for his marvels and to rejoice in reaping together the fruits of 40 years of missionary efforts under the blessing of our bishops and Popes.
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