His meeting with Pope Francis in 2018 traveled the world due to the warm reaction that the Supreme Pontiff had with Wenzel, an autistic boy of Argentine origin. Back in Misiones, his family remembered that moment and revealed details of the rapprochement in the Vatican.
Wenzel is now 13 years old, when he was 8 he starred in an unusual episode when he started playing around Jorge Bergoglio during an audience at the religious headquarters. In the midst of the surprise, Pope Francis improvised his speech and spoke about the freedom of children.
“This boy can’t speak but he knows how to communicate, he knows how to express himself. And he has one thing that made me think: he is free, undisciplinedly free… But he is free.”said the Supreme Pontiff at that time. After his return to the country after years living in Italy, the boy’s family told how he experienced that moment.
Lidia and Wilfredo, Wenzel’s parents, had to return to Argentina since they had not been able to adapt in Europe. “He needs to run and scream. Here I see more opportunities for him,” his mother explained to El Doce. She is a missionary, her husband is from Santa Fe, they met in Italy and got married. They currently live in Capioví, along with Wilmer and Walkiria, their other children.
Wenzel’s meeting with Pope Francis
In 2018, the family experienced an unforgettable moment at the Vatican when little Wenzel managed to get close to Pope Francis during an audience. Lidia and her husband were in Rome with an association of parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), invited to the audience to commemorate their tenth anniversary.
While the Supreme Pontiff was speaking, Wenzel escaped, managed to pass members of the Swiss Guard and then it was Bergoglio himself who let the boy approach him. His mother came out behind him, but she only managed to catch up with him when they were in front of Francisco, with whom they had a very brief talk.
“For us as members of the Catholic Church, it seemed like an excellent idea to be able to participate in the audience, and while we were there, at one point he ran away, because he is a child who doesn’t stay still, I quickly went to look for him, and that’s how we arrived. next to him, the Pope, it was something inexplicable that he even later gave a catechesis on the matter,” the mother told a missionary media.
“We saw him again in 2023, his simplicity surpasses all imagination, because after having surgery, he did not hesitate to say a prayer for Wenzel in a meeting we had in June last year”he added.
Regarding the remembered episode at the Vatican, Lidia revealed that at one point the Pope made signs to her as if to say “leave it.” On the other hand, he said that what caught Wenzel’s attention were the colors of the Swiss Guard suit. “I greeted him, told him that we were Argentinian, and told him that Wenzel is autistic, non-verbal, and asked for a special prayer. That’s when he made the speech”Lidia recalled.
At that time, Pope Francis referred to the boy with a warm message: “This child cannot speak: he is mute, but he can communicate, he can express himself. And he has one thing that makes me think: he is free, undisciplinedly free. But it is free. And this makes me think: am I also that free before God? When Jesus says that we must become like children, he tells us that we must have the freedom that a child has before his father. Yes, I believe that this boy has preached for all of us, and we ask for the grace that he can speak.
Lidia explained that it was because of raising the baby that they decided to return to Argentina. “TOIt was getting complicated for us because we live in a very small apartment, in a condominium where 24 families live. He needs to run, scream”said the mother while her teacher assured: “He had no difficulties adapting to the institution, to his colleagues. “He wants to learn.”
“The truth is that all the effort was worth it and it is worth continuing. It’s worth it because we see him make his little progress. Now he hugs me very tightly and won’t let go. For me it’s something very strange because he didn’t behave like that. “It excites me!” the woman concluded.
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