Rome Newsroom, Nov 19, 2022 / 07:30 am
Pope Francis traveled to northern Italy on Saturday to celebrate the 90th birthday of his second cousin Carla Rabezzana with his Italian relatives.
The 85-year-old pope arrived by helicopter in the Italian province of Asti, 30 miles east of Turin, just before noon on Nov. 19.
The pope made a brief stop to pray at a local church before greeting Rabezzana at her home in the town of Portacomaro, where they were joined by five other relatives and their families to share a home-cooked lunch with local delicacies from the Piedmont region.
Rabezzana, who turned 90 on Nov. 8, told Vatican News ahead of the visit that she was looking forward to embracing her cousin (the pope) because they had not seen each other for three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.