Sandra Lezcano/Jorgelina Jordá/mkf. Rome, Wednesday, July 25, 1979: the mission was for the Pope to bless the Original Pilgrim MTA. Today one imagines that taking a Pilgrim MTA to be blessed in Rome or to any other church in the world would not be a problem, however, Father Carlos Cox, a Chilean Schoenstatt Father, relates what he experienced along with Father Rubens and John Pozzobon in order for the first Pilgrim MTA to be blessed by the Holy Father, John Paul II.
It happened in July 1979 during a vacation in Rome when Father Carlos Cox was still a seminarian. He was informed that John Pozzobon, who began the Rosary Campaign, was going to Rome with the mission of having the first picture of the Pilgrim Blessed Mother, the Original Pilgrim MTA, blessed by the Pope.
Father Carlos Cox relates the event in the following manner:
“I was on vacation in Rome with the objective of calmly visiting different sites and traveling through the history of the Church, when I was called and advised that John Pozzobon would arrive in Rome. They asked me if it would be possible to have the Holy Father bless the picture of the Pilgrim Virgin that John Pozzobon carried (which obviously was the first one); I was asked to find a way. It was truly an almost impossible task, since I was just a seminarian who hardly knew anyone in Rome. And I did not have special contacts, the Sisters of Mary were on vacation, and there were no Schoenstatt Fathers or priests.
I went to meet Father Rubens and John Pozzobon at the airport. We stayed at the place where I was lodging: a religious community close to Piazza Navona. We began to visit the most important sites. Thanks be to God, since Father Rubens was a priest, we could participate in many Holy Masses in historic places: St. Peter’s Basilica, Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Saint Salvatore in Onda, and the Brazilian Pio School… We also visited the house of some Pallotine Fathers close to John Pozzobon.
I tried to explain to them that he was a very special person…
Meanwhile, I tried to obtain tickets for the audience. I tried to explain to the person in charge that this visitor was a special person, a man who been on pilgrimage for 140,000 kilometers on foot with the picture of the Pilgrim Virgin. Finally they issued a spot, but it was nothing special. I asked Father Rubens, ‘How are we going to get the Holy Father to bless the picture?’ At this point, the fact that we were Latin helped us: when the people knelt to receive the blessing, Father Rubens advanced to the barriers and John Pozzobon followed him. We arrived at the barriers and were happy, but we were on the right side and the Holy Father was coming out at the left side! There are fifteen or twenty meters between the barriers. We began to say all kinds of things: “Here is the Pilgrim MTA,” “Come bless her.” John Pozzobon was always calm. The Holy Father was just about to leave, and we were very disappointed. Then a member of security turned and crossed the barrier to ask us what was wrong. We told him, in a mixture of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese that we wanted the Holy Father to bless the Pilgrim Virgin and how important this blessing was for the Campaign. He told us that only Father Rubens or John Pozzobon could pass the barrier with the picture.
Without hesitation John Pozzobon decided it should be Father Rubens, and he and I stayed.
“She was the one who took care”
And the photo that you know was taken there; the Holy Father blessing the Original Pilgrim MTA from the pope mobile. I stayed with John Pozzobon, and I was very unhappy because I did not have the necessary contacts. I had expected a better place, but John said, “She is the one who took care,” the Holy Father blessed Her.
When everything was over and the people left, we were happy just the same, but something remained inside of me. We went to the center of Saint Peter’s Square, we prayed and we thanked the Blessed Mother for what we had accomplished on that day, July 25th.
What I truly remember the most is that it was a very big gift, since humanly speaking, there wasn’t any possibility that the Pope would bless the Pilgrim MTA, without that kind guard, who I saw again in Chile during the Holy Father’s visit. This is a little bit of the history about the blessing of the picture. John Pozzobon’s constant calm and serenity were noticeable. He demonstrated that he was an authentic instrument, the little donkey, as he would say. The important thing was that John Paul II blessed the Original Pilgrim MTA for the entire Campaign and for everything that would happen in the future.
