Anna Romano, 35 wrote to Pope Francis a few months ago for his help. She revealed in her letter that she was pregnant by a married man who was demanding she abort the child, she refused. A few months after sending her letter she received a surprising phone call, Pope Francis telephoned her and offered to baptize her baby.
Anna added how she was ‘in a desperate and anguished state’ and that she was writing to Pope Francis because she had ‘no-one else to turn to, after being left humiliated and betrayed’.
Speaking from her home she added: ‘I addressed the letter simply to Pope Francis, the Vatican and put it in the post. I didn’t even send it recorded delivery. I didn’t really expect to get a reply but then out of the blue when I was on holiday I had a phone call from him. ‘The number was from Rome, with a 06 dial code, and as soon as he started speaking I recognised the voice as his.
‘I was just so surprised that he had telephoned me. He said that he had read my letter and he wanted to speak to me personally about it and reassure me that someone was worried about me.
‘We were only on the phone for a few minutes but my heart was filled with joy, as we spoke I was rubbing my tummy at the same time. I had only seen the Pope once before, from St Peter’s Square when I lived in Rome, I would never have imagined that the Pope would pick up a telephone and call me and speak to me as if I was a dear friend.
‘He reassured me and said a child was a gift from God, a sign of Divine Providence and that I would never be left alone. He said that as Christians we should never be afraid.
‘He told me I had been very brave and strong for my unborn child. I told him that I wanted to baptise the baby when it was born but I was afraid as I was divorced and a single mother but he said he would be my spiritual father and he would baptise my baby.
‘I’m not sure if he will, I feel as if I am dreaming but if he did baptise my baby it would be something else, that telephone call has changed my life.
‘I hope my letter will be an example for other women who feel they may be distant from the Church simply because they have chosen the wrong man, they are divorced or they are with men who are not worthy of being fathers.
‘I don’t know the sex of the baby but if the Pope does baptise it and it’s a boy I have no doubt of his name – Francis.’
