Holy Innocents students meet Pope Leo, a week after Long Beach school vandalized – Press Telegram

The senior class at Holy Innocents School in Long Beach recently had its annual pilgrimage to Rome and had a surprise meeting — with the pope.

The meeting with Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff from the United States, came a week after the Catholic school was vandalized.

Holy Innocents’ nine-person senior class, four teachers, religious leaders and family were in Rome last week when they got the unexpected audience with Pope Leo, who gave them his blessing and prayers, following the vandalism of their school earlier this month.

Staff entered the School Hall on Monday, Feb. 2, when they discovered shelves, school supplies, furniture, audio equipment and religious articles that had been thrown and, in some cases, destroyed throughout the building. A life-sized statue of the Virgin Mary, which had been with the school since its opening in 1958, was shoved to the ground and decapitated, school officials said. The church tabernacle, a fixed and locked box that holds the Eucharist, was ripped from the sanctuary and thrown to the ground as well.

The next morning, after intensive cleanup by staff, students and volunteers, Auxiliary Bishop Marc Trudeau celebrated a reparation Mass in the School Hall. In the aftermath of the break-in, the local community stepped up to support the school. Some volunteered to help clean up, and others donated items or services.

A GoFundMe fundraiser brought in more than $150,000, and about $75,000 was donated directly to the school, officials said.

After witnessing the destruction, school officials only allowed one group of students to view the damage – the senior class.

“What happened with the vandalism was pretty horrible,” Carlos Martinez, 17, one of the seniors, said in a statement. “But since we believe that God uses bad for good, I don’t think it was a coincidence that happened right before we went to Rome.

“We met the pope and there were so many people supporting our school,” Martinez added, “even people not from our school. And it was really beautiful.”

The school’s annual pilgrimage for its senior class usually happens during Holy Week, but this year, school officials moved the trip to February, according to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

A benefactor, who wanted to remain anonymous, got the school in touch with Msgr. Anthony Figueiredo, a priest who worked in Rome but is now based in Assisi, Italy. He arranged for the Holy Innocents’ group to receive an audience with Pope Leo and have their school be named during the ceremony, according to the Archdiocese.

On Wednesday, Feb. 11, the group was inside the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall. Once Pope Leo’s remarks were over, the students were invited onto the steps and the pope greeted each person individually, shaking hands and offering prayers for the vandalism of their school, officials said.

“I was actually the first one he came up to when we were going to take a picture, and he shook my hand, and I was like, this is so crazy. How am I meeting the pope?” Sophia Gutierrez, 17, said in a statement. “Just being able to tell him that this happened, and him saying that you’re going to be in my prayers, it was really moving.”

Following the audience, the group visited other holy sites around Italy before returning home just before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. But the students and staff at Holy Innocents are still buzzing from the meeting with Pope Leo — and what it means as the school continues its healing and recovery.

“I think when you are in the presence of the Holy Father, you can really feel the depth of his prayer life, and the way that comes out in his generosity to other people, his warmth, the way he seeks to be truly a pastor,” Kiernan Fiore, director of academics at Holy Innocents, said in a statement. “But for me, personally, the thing that I really remember him commenting to me was just about the tabernacle at our school. It’s so meaningful for us to know that he has heard that, and can personally pray for us.”

In a social media post sharing photos of the students’ meeting with Pope Leo, officials also provided an update on the progress of restoring the school’s sacred space in Long Beach.

The life-size statue of the Virgin Mary has been confirmed to be repairable and will take approximately six months to do so. The Shea Foundation will help the school with key repairs, as well as restoring the WiFi network that was torn out. The school will also upgrade its campus security and enhance its security plan, such as improving lighting.

“After the painful events of last week, this moment felt providential,” the Thursday, Feb. 12, social media post said. “Standing before the Holy Father, receiving his blessing, was not just a photo opportunity – it was a moment of healing for our students and our school community.”