An exciting chance meeting!
In one of those amazing moments, we were on the square getting ready to head back up the hill when a reporter rushed up and said come with me. He brought us to meet Francesco Zanardi, a fellow survivor, from Savona.
Francesco has helped to get his predator arrested and convicted. He has recorded dozens upon dozens of conversations with church officials (who have admitted this predator had attacked numerous kids) and the predator who does apologize. He held a 20 day hunger strike and walked 350 miles from Savona to Rome to help publicize the scandal.
He has letters from his bishop to then Cardinal Ratzinger about the predator and so much more. (many of the documents are on our website) he is here in Rome to deliver a petition to Cardinal Sodano asking that Cardinal Domenico Calcagano (the bishop who wrote Ratzinger) be removed from the conclave for protecting the predator rather than the kids. This petition received over 12,000 signatures in just 40 hours.
It's always a wonderful moment when you meet exciting people like Francesco, and getting to hear about his impressive work was one of the highlights of the trip!