When the Pope summoned me: One woman’s spiritual encounter

The announcement of the Pope’s visit to Kenya last month came with a lot of excitement for all. The whole nation prepared for this visit, especially the Catholic faithful. People travelled far and wide to get even the slightest glimpse of Pope Francis. Such was the case of Smiley Barretto Picardo.

Smiley Barretto was born in Mombasa. She is a second generation Kenyan of Indian origin. Like many Goans, her grandfather, Filipe Lobo, came to Kenya from Goa in the early 1900s during the British rule. He was a printer by profession and so was able to get a job at Mombasa Times.

Having been brought up by Goan parents, religion was very important and attending Sunday Mass was non-negotiable. Even now, and with her advanced age, Smiley attended Mass every day to prepare for the Pope’s visit.

“I prayed for his visit to be successful and also that he be kept safe,” she explains.

On the day Pope Francis was to say Mass at the University of Nairobi, Smiley woke up early to say her morning prayers. She and her family then left for the Papal Nuncio’s residence. They wanted to be there by 7am. Imagining how the crowds would swell at the university grounds, they agreed that their best chance of getting a glimpse of the Holy Father lay at the Nunciature, she explains. For Smiley, a photo or video recording on her phone of the Pope as he was driven off to the university would be enough.

EYE CONTACT

And so she braved the rain together with six other companions and sat outside the Nuncio’s residence waiting patiently for his Holiness to pass by in his car or his “Pope Mobile”. At around 9.15 am, after almost two hours of waiting, the gates opened and sirens went off as the accompanying police officers and cars started their engines and began to drive ahead of the Pope’s car.

The crowd near Smiley was held back by the police and guards. People stood up from the chairs, once the fleet of cars started to drive out. Smiley stood up, eyes wide open, waiting for her moment to take a picture of the passing pope.

“Lo and Behold” she says, “After a few moments, Pope Francis’s car, a dark coloured Honda, emerged through the crowd,” she tells Lifestyle. “I got my phone ready to take a picture, but suddenly, the car came to a slow halt.”

She continues: “His windows were down, and his hand was outside his car as he was waving to us. But when the car stopped, I saw him look into my eyes. He looked at me directly and said ‘Come, Come’.”

Shocked and astonished, “in two minds” as Smiley says, she ran towards the car, completely bypassing the guards who were lined up along the crowd.

He held out his left hand, and gave it to her, as if to shake her hand. She kissed it twice, in respect for his Holiness and then the car started moving away slowly. “I was in shock, I was dumbfounded. I could not believe this happened to me,” she says. In this shock and excitement and joy, she began to weep. An unexplainable feeling came over her. She clenched her chest and wept and wept. It was a sense of euphoria; it was something she “could not explain”.

They weren’t tears of sadness, rather tears of joy and overwhelming emotion as she took it all in. Smiley admits she was truly blessed to have such a rare opportunity and she even told many media personnel that she would “never wash her hands for the next few months ever again!”

Smiley agrees that, in that moment she believed she would never wash her hands again. But she explains “many people who were there waiting with me, came to shake my hand, in the hope that his blessing would be passed on. I really hope this is the case.”

Her husband, Fortunato Barretto, did not accompany her to see Pope but she made sure when she returned home, she made the sign of the cross on his forehead, as if to pass on the blessing she received. “After doing this, yes, I did wash my hand, I know that the Pope’s blessing is spiritual and not material, it is not quantifiable and it is a blessing which I have complete faith in”.

Smiley feels like a changed woman. “It has only been a few days since the event, and I do feel changed. I cannot explain how but I do feel some change within me”.

She feels truly blessed to have been given such a rare opportunity and she credits God as she says: “I do not know why I was chosen out of all the people there. I do not know why me? It is such a difficult question to answer. It is entirely God’s doing and choice and it is divine intervention. There is no other way to explain it.”

GENUINE CONCERN

Never in Smiley’s wildest dreams did she ever think she could have such a unique opportunity. She says that, she did not initially think she would come into such close contact with him, especially because previously, she did not manage to see Pope John Paul II, who visited Kenya 20 years ago. “When Pope John Paul had visited Kenya, my husband and I drove all the way to Machakos hoping to see him. Unfortunately, we did not even get a glimpse of him due to the huge crowds at the venue. Thus, seeing and coming into such close proximity to Pope Francis was very special for me”.

Smiley thinks that the Pope’s overall message to Kenyans was one of genuine concern, especially for the poor, vulnerable and the needy of the society. She strongly feels that he is very astute and understanding of the key challenges facing Kenya today like corruption, tribalism, land grabbing and so on.

She admits that, since Pope Francis, became the Pope, she has loved his face, his lovely smile and genuine humility which she believes are infectious and draws people in. She hopes that others can be able to emulate his humility and concern for the poor. She also hopes that Kenyans can live by his words of advice and example and will be changed by his messages.

Smiley grew up in Mombasa, where she attained primary school education at White Sisters Convent before going to Mumbai, India, to further her education, also in a Catholic secondary school run by nuns. Strict Catholic discipline was enforced and religious education was of utmost importance. She later went on to work as a personal administrator for many years, before retiring in 1992.

After having settled down, she got married to Barretto, who was born in Kampala, Uganda. The couple has two daughters, Charlotte and Cheryl and a son, Shaun.

The writer is a student at the United States International University- Africa