Pope Francis met this Friday morning at the Apostolic Nunciature in Lisbon with a Portuguese woman who was born on May 13, 1917, the same day the Virgin Mary appeared in Fátima, Portugal.

“This morning, before leaving the Apostolic Nunciature, the Pope briefly met with a 106-year-old woman, Maria da Conceição Brito Mendonça, born on the day of the Fátima apparitions, May 13, 1917,” reported the Holy See Press Office on Friday, August 4, 2023.

The Holy Father also met with “young Edna Pina Lopes Rodrigues, who suffers from a serious illness, to whom the Pope had sent a message of affection and prayer in June,” the Vatican source said. On June 23, 2023, the Pontiff thanked the 17-year-old Portuguese girl, who suffers from a terminal illness, for her “tenderness” and “peace,” and who had written to Pope Francis expressing regret for not being able to participate in World Youth Day (WYD).

In the letter, which, according to Vatican media, was written in the hospital, Edna Rodrigues assured that she loves the Pope and that her dream “has always been to meet him.”

Edna, a young Portuguese girl from the parish of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Lisbon, expressed her regret at not being able to physically attend WYD in Lisbon due to health problems. Despite her illness, she was happy to hear that WYD would be celebrated in Portugal. However, her doctor had informed her that her time was limited, which saddened her deeply because she thought she would not be able to fulfill her dream of seeing the Pope at WYD.

Nevertheless, she decided to write a letter to the Pope to express how much he meant to her and her family and asked for his prayers. In response, Pope Francis recorded a brief video thanking Edna, in which he acknowledged the peace that the young girl shows, comparable to a seed sown in the hearts of all who know and speak with her.

This article was originally published on ACI Prensa