{"id":491,"date":"2009-07-01T07:24:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-01T07:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/07\/a-10-year-old-from-long-island-meets-the-pope-i-thought-it-was-cool.html"},"modified":"2009-07-01T07:24:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-01T07:24:00","slug":"a-10-year-old-from-long-island-meets-the-pope-i-thought-it-was-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/07\/a-10-year-old-from-long-island-meets-the-pope-i-thought-it-was-cool.html","title":{"rendered":"A 10-year-old from Long Island meets the pope: “I thought it was cool!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Were you nervous?
“Yes!”
Did you pray last night?
“Yes!”
Your outfit is perfect.
“My mother picked it out!”
What is Pope Benedict XVI like?
“Nice! Really nice!”
Did the Pope say anything?
“Yes!”
What did he say?
“God bless!”
Did you say anything to him?
“I said ‘God bless you.’ And ‘thank you.’ At least I think I said that!”
What did you think when the people burst into song in different languages?
“I thought it was cool! There were all these different people, but they all believe the same thing.”
Are you ever going to forget this day?
“No!”<\/p>\n

— 10-year-old Mary Zwilling<\/a>,
from Franklin Square on Long Island,
describing what it was like to meet Pope Benedict yesterday. <\/div>\n

PHOTO:<\/b> Pope Benedict XVI greets Mary Zwilling with NY Archbishop Timothy Dolan and his mother Shirley at the Vatican in Rome.<\/i><\/span> From the NY Daily News. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Were you nervous?“Yes!”Did you pray last night?“Yes!”Your outfit is perfect.“My mother picked it out!”What is Pope Benedict XVI like?“Nice! Really nice!”Did the Pope say anything?“Yes!”What did he say?“God bless!”Did you say anything to him?“I said ‘God bless you.’ And ‘thank you.’ At least I think I said that!”What did you think when the people burst…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-people-in-the-pews","category-the-pope-and-bishops"],"yoast_head":"\nA 10-year-old from Long Island meets the pope: "I thought it was cool!" - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/07\/a-10-year-old-from-long-island-meets-the-pope-i-thought-it-was-cool.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A 10-year-old from Long Island meets the pope: "I thought it was cool!" - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Were you nervous?“Yes!”Did you pray last night?“Yes!”Your outfit is perfect.“My mother picked it out!”What is Pope Benedict XVI like?“Nice! 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