Woman recalls special encounter with Pope Francis in NYC
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YONKERS, N.Y. (PIX11) - Stephanie Gabaud said Pope Francis' visit to New York City in 2015 changed her life for the better. She received a personal blessing from him at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Gabaud, who has spina bifida and other medical conditions, said she had been medically cleared to attend the Mass just days before. Gabaud told PIX11 News that the pope had passed her in the pew and then suddenly turned around.
"I felt someone coming towards me, and I looked up and it was the Holy Father coming towards me," Gabaud said.
They embraced, and he blessed her.
"After that blessing, I was a completely different person ... I was happier, like, I don't know what happened, a light bulb just turned," Gabaud said.
Gabaud now acts as a spokesperson for St. Elizabeth Seton Children's Center in Yonkers.
In March of 2023, she traveled to the Vatican and received a second blessing from the pope.
"I'm just grateful and blessed that I had the opportunity to meet him and be embraced and blessed by him," Gabaud said.
During that papal visit, Pope Francis also stopped into the Vianel Beauty Salon on East 112th Street in East Harlem and met with 150 people inside Our Lady Queen of Angels School.
Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, the executive director of Catholic Charities of New York, organized that school visit.
Sullivan told PIX11 News they intentionally picked the diverse location because "it was very natural that in New York, which is a city of immigrants, a city that is so diverse, that he would want to see how the church is reaching out and welcoming migrants to their new home in New York. The migrants were delighted he chose to meet with them."