Pope Meets With Parents Who Continue Search for Their Missing Daughter
Parents of missing 4-year-old meet with pope as they continue their search.
May 30, 2007 — -- The plight of Madeleine McCann, the 4-year-old English girl who went missing in Portugal May 3, grabbed headlines again today as the girl's parents traveled to the Vatican to meet Pope Benedict XVI and asked for his blessing and support as they continue their search for Madeleine.
At the end of his weekly general audience, after giving his catechism and greeting the crowds in several languages, the pontiff went up to the section reserved for special guests and greeted people lined up to see him. Kate and Gerry McCann, both Catholics, waited for their turn with particularly mixed emotions.
"In normal circumstances it could be one of the most exciting things we could do in our own lifetime, but the fact remains we are here without Madeleine," Gerry McCann told journalists in front of St. Peter's Basilica just before the audience. "This is a very nerve-racking experience."
The pope shook hands, smiled and waved as he made his way along but the mood changed dramatically when he was introduced by his secretary to the McCanns.
Both dressed in dark suits -- Kate McCann wore a rosary around her neck and a green ribbon in her hair. The couple stood apparently on the verge of tears as the pope approached them and took their hands. Gerry McCann quickly kissed the pope's ring and Kate McCann quietly listened to the pope's words and almost in a whisper asked him whether he would bless "a picture of Maddie."
The pontiff gently stroked the photo and made the sign of the cross. He then turned to Gerry McCann and squeezed his hands at length. Gerry McCann was holding Madeleine's favorite stuffed animal, her Cuddlecat. He seemed too upset to speak.
At a news conference in Rome after the meeting, Kate McCann said the pope "was very kind, very sincere," and said that he told her and her husband that he would continue to pray for Madeleine's return.
Gerry McCann was touched by how personal the pope had been. "His touch and thoughts and words were more tender than we could have hoped, and that will sustain us during this most difficult time," he said.
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