Galway girl Clara chosen for Pope’s children’s book

A Galway schoolgirl has said meeting Pope Francis was one of “the most amazing moments of my life” after her question was chosen out of 259 entries from children worldwide to appear in a new children’s book by the Pontiff.

Clara Ó Gormáin (11), a pupil of the Jesuit Scoil Iognáid in Galway, appears in Pope Francis’ latest book, Dear Pope Francis: The Pope Answers Letters From Children Around the World, published by Irish Messenger Publications and Loyola Press USA. She wrote her letter as gaelige asking the Pope if he felt like a father to everyone.

“I was thinking of when you speak to your priest, you always call him father and that made me think that meant priests were supposed to be spiritual fathers, so I wondered since the Pope was at the top, if he felt like a father to everyone in the world. I think he gave me a good answer and he explained why he did feel like a father,” she told The Irish Catholic.

Clara and her father Brendan travelled to the Vatican last week where she attended a private audience with Pope Francis and other children who appeared in the book, and Clara presented the Pontiff with a tin whistle. “It was one of the most amazing moments of my life,” she said.

Humour

“I asked what was his favourite part of being the Pope and he said it was meeting people. He seemed like a happy man. He had a good sense of humour. When the translator accidently said he was 100, because he misheard him, the Pope thought it was funny and he was not offended. He made a joke about it later in the conversation.”

Archbishop Eamon Martin, who officially launched Dear Pope Francis in Ireland on Tuesday, congratulated Clara on her entry and recommended the book to “the families of Ireland as a beautiful gift directly from Pope Francis”.

He said he was “struck by many of the questions in the book because they show in the children a concern for the world in which they live”. “The love that the children of the world have for Pope Francis also shines through in these letters and in the beautiful images which accompany them,” he said.