Beatification of Chiara Luce Badano,

Last Saturday, 25,000 people from 71 countries including, Australia, Korea, Pakistan, Vietnam, Syria and Russia filled the Sanctuary of Divine Love in Rome for the beatification of Chiara Luce Badano, the first of the Focolare movement raised to the altar.



An article about Chiara's describe her parents experience with Pope Benedict at the Beatification Mass. The article reads in part...

Expecting to offer their appreciation to the Holy Father for the beatification of their daughter, the parents of Blessed Chiara "Luce" Badano were thanked instead by the Pontiff himself. They expressed their surprise to be chosen to participate in their daughter's "contagious Christian experience."

L'Osservatore Romano (LOR) reported on the encounter between the blessed's parents and Pope Benedict XVI which followed Wednesday's audience in St. Peter's Square.

Greeting the Pope after a line of prelates had done so, Maria Teresa and Ruggero Badano were visibly pleased to meet the Holy Father. They meant to thank Pope Benedict for their daughter's beatification last Saturday, but, reported LOR, it was the Holy Father who thanked them.

The parents remarked that they were "surprised that two poor people like ourselves were chosen to participate in the contagious Christian experience of our only daughter.

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