A mother who decided to reject her boyfriend’s request for her to get an abortion received a surprise call from Pope Francis — who told her he would be glad to baptize her baby.
Anna Romano became pregnant after having a relationship with a married man, who told her he would not help her raise the baby and pressured her to have an abortion. Not wanting to compound one mistake with another, Romano refused and will give birth. In a desperate plea for help, she wrote to Pope Francis for advice.
In a new personal outreach to Catholics across the globe, Pope Francis picked up the phone and called Romano.
“On the phone I was stunned” she says. “I listened to his words: he had read my letter, he reassured me that the baby was a gift from God, a sign of Providence. He told me that I would never be left alone.”
“He filled my heart with joy when he told me that I was very brave and strong for my child,” says Anna. “When I told him that I intended to baptize but I was afraid that is not possible because I am a single mother, already divorced, he reassured me, saying: “I am convinced that you will not have trouble finding a spiritual father, but if not, know that there is always me.”
The London Telegraph has more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/10290681/Pope-Francis-promises-to-baptise-unmarried-womans-child-in-latest-phone-call.html
“At the beginning I thought it was a joke, but then he referred to the letter, which only my best friend and my parents knew about,” she told Italy’s Corriere della Sera.
In her letter, which she had addressed to “His Holiness Francis, Vatican City”, Romano wrote that her boyfriend had revealed he was married when she told him she was pregnant. “He left me, telling me he had no intention of taking care of the baby,” she said. The man also told her to have an abortion, advice she was determined to ignore.
Forgetting about the letter, she departed for a holiday with her family, only to receive the call.
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
Explaining to the Pope that she feared no priest would baptise her illegitimate child, the Pope told her that if she had any trouble he would personally hold the baptism.
“The Pope told me I was very brave and strong to decide to keep my baby,” she said.
The Pope has bolstered his popular appeal by picking up the phone at his residence in the Vatican and calling people out of the blue.
