LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) — The images were difficult for students and staff at Holy Innocents School to absorb: a statue of the Virgin Mary smashed, sacred items torn apart, and parts of the campus left in disarray.<\/p>\n
It was all due to an act of vandalism a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n
“The feeling of everyone just wondering, ‘Why? What would motivate you to do this?'” said Kiernan Fiore, a teacher at the school.<\/p>\n
School officials said they may never learn who desecrated the campus, but in the aftermath of the destruction, something unexpected — and to many, something divine — followed.<\/p>\n
The vandalism occurred just as students were preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the Vatican.<\/p>\n
In the days after the attack, a friend of the school helped arrange an extraordinary opportunity: the possibility of an audience with Pope Leo.<\/p>\n
“When we first walked into the room, I had heard a little bit that … maybe you guys will get to meet the Pope and I was like, ‘No, I don’t think so. There’s so many people here,'” said student Sophia Gutierrez.<\/p>\n
Instead, the students received a personal welcome from the Pope himself.<\/p>\n
“He really tried to talk to us,” said student Carlos Martinez. “He asked us how we were, he asked us where we’re from … He felt like a human being — easy to talk to, very humble.”<\/p>\n
For Gutierrez, the moment became deeply personal.<\/p>\n
“He stopped right in front of me, and I was like, ‘Pope Leo, can you bless my rosaries?'” she said. “He came back, and he touched my rosary, and he said, ‘Everything is already blessed.'”<\/p>\n
After the trauma from the attack on the school, Fiore said the encounter brought a sense of healing and hope to the community.<\/p>\n
She believes something good came from the incident, as the encounter led to them “knowing for some small amount of time how special they are in the eyes of God.”<\/p>\n
The students returned to school on Tuesday, still battling jet lag and still overwhelmed by the experience.<\/p>\n
They said it’s a moment they will remember for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n
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