Pope Francis has thanked a couple celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary for their witness of faith and union.
According to L’Osservatore Romano, at the end of his daily morning Mass at his residence Casa Santa Marta on March 5, 2018, the Pope greeted and blessed Maria Martorella and Carmine Persichetti.
Maria is 93, and Carmine, 94. They are from Bomba in Abbruzz0’s province of Chieti, and have three daughters and four grandchildren.
The Holy Father paused briefly to talk with them and with Donatina, one of the daughters who accompanied them. Pope Francis was given as a gift a bird that Carmine himself had carved in the wood.
During the Pope’s Mass, his homily stressed that religion and faith are not “a spectacle” and that faithful should convert their way of thinking.
