Back in early April, Abigail Benjamin submitted a request for tickets to attend a papal audience in May. Not many people were requesting tickets at the time, as a cardinal handled the papal audiences for an ailing Pope Francis. But Abigail felt she and her husband, Jon, should go.
They could never have known that by the time they traveled to Rome, Pope Francis would have passed away, a conclave would be held, and that a new pope—Pope Leo XIV—would be introduced to the world.
And Jon and Abigail certainly could never have imagined that May 21—the date they had requested tickets for—would just happen to be the date of Pope Leo’s first papal audience. The timing and the tickets felt like a miracle.
In fact, the whole trip felt a bit miraculous for the parents of seven—ages 6 to 22. Abigail decided to join Jon for their first trip to Rome while he—an associate professor of graphic design at West Virginia Wesleyan College—could present his doctoral dissertation on art, philosophy, and video games at a conference there.
While in Rome, they went through all four Holy Doors for the Jubilee Year, visited several churches, saw numerous works of art, and prayed at Pope Francis’ grave. Throughout their trip, Jon and Abigail held onto hope that the papal audience would happen as scheduled and that they could find the office to pick up their tickets.
“I never thought we’d have an American Pope, certainly not in my lifetime. It makes holiness feel a little more in reach,” Abigail said. “It’s like the incarnation. Like if the Pope eats hot dogs and has a favorite baseball team and plays Words with Friends with his brothers, what can we do to be more like Jesus?”
Abigail—who grew up in the Methodist Church—is a convert to Catholicism who made her Full Promise as a Third Order Carmelite nine years ago. When she became Catholic, she struggled a little with the idea of a pope. Then she saw a documentary, Witness to Hope: The Life of John Paul II, and she started learning more about Pope John Paul II. She came to love him—and she loved both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis.
“During this conclave, I felt a lot of trust in my heart,” she said. She is excited that Pope Leo is an Augustinian, and she is eager to learn more about him.
And she and Jon were excited to go to the papal audience. They arrived in St. Peter’s Square hours before the audience and waited for Pope Leo with people from around the world. And then he was there.
“He spoke with calm authority,” Abigail said. “He had a very clear, calm way to explain the Gospel.”
But her main takeaway from her time there was that she had tickets because no one else wanted them.
“I think the message I got was that there is always room for you in church,” she said. “And the most important thing isn’t physically being there. It’s listening to the Pope and having a heart ready to hear and be taught.”
Abigail shared that she also feels a personal connection to Pope Francis and Pope Leo. She and Jon lost two babies in the second trimester—one they named Francisco and the other Leo. The names of these popes reminded her of those baby boys.
“I knew Pope Francis name was close to Francisco. But when Pope Leo was named—in the same order and they were friends—it’s like we got a new connection to our sons,” she said. The time in Rome “helped my husband and I weave our stories into the Communion of Saints. It’s like it’s all healing. You go to a papal audience, and you walk through Jubilee doors because you don’t even consciously remember all the broken and worn places in your marriage and life, but two popes show up with the same names as your sons and you pray for them so sincerely and deeply. Rome doesn’t seem so foreign or far away.”
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