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Philadelphia Woman Shares Her Pope Stories, Encourages Others To Attend Papal Weekend

By Cherri Gregg

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Papal weekend is just a few days away and many have no idea what to expect. But a Southwest Philadelphia woman with numerous "Papal encounters" is sharing her story, hoping it inspires others to participate in the historic event.

Vanesse Lloyd Sgambati grew up in the Eastwick section of Southwest Philadelphia. The fashion journalist turned book publicist married an Italian restaurateur and lived in Rome for a dozen years.

"My life...it's been a story book," she says, "family and faith has been the primary reason I have been successful."

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A book she says involved many, many trips to the Vatican over the years, at a time, when she says it was more accessible.

"I've encountered four Popes," she says, "and if I use the word amazing a lot to describe these are experience that really, really resonate with you as you going through life."

These "encounters" came thanks to Sgambati's attendance at funerals, Papal installations, beatifications and canonizations at the Vatican, including the canonization of Saint Pope John Paul II and Saint Pope John XXIII in 2014.

"People were literally sleeping in the streets," she recalls, "there were nuns, there were families -- people traveled from far and wide because they wanted to be there."

Sgambati's proximity to the Vatican also helped her get close to two Popes.  First, Pope John Paul II who she met twice more than 30 years ago when she attended a general audience with him at the Vatican. She says she stood along the "rails" and that's when she met him.

"I was the only Black person in the audience," she says, "he came down, shook my hand and he walked away."

Later on, she says she wrote to Pope John Paul II asking him to give a private audience to her five-year-old son's school.  It took three weeks to convince him, but she says the Pope agreed.

"The kids performed for him, my son gave him a Teddy bear," says Sgambati, "he was so affectionate with them."

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Sgambati with her son during meeting with Pope John Paul II. (Photo courtesy Vanesse Lloyd Sgambati)

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And then recently -- she came within inches of Pope Francis in the Vatican Square after serving in his Palm Sunday mass.

"Just an amazing an experience," she says.

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Sgambati on Palm Sunday where she served as a processioner for Pope Francis' mass. (Photo courtesy Vanesse Lloyd Sgambati)

 

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Sgambati has spent the past few weeks sharing her Pope stories with Philadelphia parishioners. She's a member of the World Meeting of Families Community Engagement Committee and is hoping her experiences inspire others to experience the Papal weekend.

"It is the people that make this event important, significant and a must see and a must do," she says, "when you're saying the Lord's prayer and standing there and others are saying it in their own language -- it's just a feeling that's overwhelming."

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