In her comments to CNA, Medina said the turning point for her was Christopher: " I met a really good guy out there, and we just wanted a better life for ourselves and to get my family back together," she said.
After Medina's visit to Rome this year, Christopher has been selected to go on next year's pilgrimage.
In comments to CNA, trip organizer Tanya Cangelosi said she chose Medina for this year's trip because she was an answer to a prayer on Easter morning last year.
Before driving to the Knights of Columbus hall where she kept all of the DHM outreach materials, Cangelosi said a prayer, and told the Lord that if he wanted her to take someone to Rome, he needed to put the person in her path that day, since time was getting short to make the arrangements.
As she drove up to the hall, Cangelosi said Medina walked up to her "and I didn't even recognize her because she'd been alcohol free for several days and she look like a total different person."
"I knew at that point she was the one that was supposed to go. And that's how she was chosen totally by the Lord!"
Medina said that the main highlights of the Rome visit were seeing the Sistine Chapel and the Leonardo Museum, which showcases the inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci, who despite his widespread fame for painting, was also a prolific inventor.
Medina said she especially appreciated the art: "Everything is pretty much art around here, all the oldish stuff, I love how antique it is."
"The drivers are a little bit crazy, and the scooters are nuts! But just to see...the people that actually live here, they've been good," she said, explaining that Romans she met were friendly and welcoming.
Medina, Cangelosi and Logan also had front row tickets to Pope Francis' general audience Sept. 13, which happened to coincide with her 38th birthday. Although she didn't have an impression about the Pope beforehand, Medina said that as he was greeting people, "he seemed really friendly."
"There was one little boy who got to meet him at the end, down near where we were sitting, and just the way he interacted with him, he didn't seem any different," she said, noting that Pope Francis even ruffled the boy's hair while talking and taking pictures with the family.
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"He treated them all the same, as if he were one of them, so to me that's important," she said, and voiced admiration for the fact that the Pope would hold the audience despite the fact that he had just returned from a six-day visit to Colombia the day before.
Francis, she said, "made time to still do this for his people, so to me that's great. He didn't say 'I can't do it this week because I'm out of town.' He made it important to come back."
She voiced her thanks to Cangelosi and DHM for the arranging the trip, saying it was "quite an experience, seeing a whole new place."
"I'm a person that's not good with change, and then to come across the world with people that I know, but not as well, I was very nervous but they've made me feel at home," she said. "I've met some great people out here. I got to see a lot of great stuff, history, and I got to see the Pope. It's been wonderful."
Medina also commented on the difference between homelessness in Rome and homelessness in Denver, saying, "Rome treats there homeless so much better. They let them sleep at the train station. In Denver you cannot do that."
"You go to Union Station out in Denver, and you just close your eyes and they're kicking you out or making you wake up," whereas in Rome "they let them just hang out, and the way I see it, a lot of them are a lot more mellow, I think because they have a lot more freedom. They have the right to rest."