Chuck Keating led the Bishop Shanahan High School Band that greeted Pope Francis on the tarmac of the Philadelphia International Airport Saturday, but he secretly hoped the Pope might see and bless his handicapped son.
After shaking hands with Chuck, the pope got into his Fiat and started to drive away, but then he saw Chuck’s son Michael at the corner of the barricade, where he sat in a wheelchair with purple rosary beads on his lap.
Pope Francis’ Fiat turned around and stopped, and the pope got out, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, as members of the band shouted “We love you, Francis!”
The pope laid his hands on Michael, who suffers from cerebral palsy, and blessed him, then kissed him gently on the head. Francis grabbed Michael’s mother’s hand, as she teared up in a touching moment that was broadcast on live television. The pope held Michael’s father’s hand, then touched Michael’s head again, as other people nearby dabbed their eyes.
Michael’s twin brother Chris and 13-year-old sister Katie were there for the moment and in tears as well, reported the Inquirer.
“I can’t believe it,” Michael’s grandmother Johanna Keating told the Inquirer. “God planned it this way.”
