Pope Francis was captured once comforting an Italian child sobbing that he had asked if his dead Atheist father had still gone to heaven in a moving video.
The image of the encounter with tears resurfaced on Monday after the death of the pontiff, since the world remembered some of his sincere moments of his papacy.
The emotional video captured the child, called Emanuele, trying to visit the Parish of San Pablo in Rome in April 2018.
After the child broke into the tears while fighting for asking his question, the pontiff quickly said: “Come, come to me, Emanuele. Come and whisper her in my ear.”
The Pope wrapped the child in a tight hug when he finally approached Francis on stage.
The couple spoke with their heads almost touching for several moments before Pope Francis asked the young man if he could tell the crowd his exchange.
Pope Francis said that Emanuele’s father, who was not religious but had baptized his four children, had recently died.
The child, according to the pontiff, wanted to know if his father would still be accepted in heaven since he was a good man.
“What a beautiful witness of a son who inherited the strength of his father, who had the courage to cry in front of all of us,” Francis said.
“If that man could do his children like that, then it’s true, he was a good man.”
When the Pope asked the multitude of young people if they thought that God would be abandoned to his children when they are good, they all shouted: “No!”
“There, Emanuele, that is the answer,” Francis said.
“God was surely proud of your Father, because it is easier as a believer to baptize your children than to baptize them when you are not a believer. Surely this pleased God.”