Prominent equality campaigner and former member of the Archbishops’ Council Jayne Ozanne has recalled her extraordinary tale in light of the Pope’s death at the age of 88 on Easter Monday.
‘I was told he doesn’t sign shirts, or anything for that matter. The next thing I know I’m getting a call saying he’s signed it,’ she said.
In November 2019 Ms Ozanne was due to be flying out to Rome on business to meet former Argentinian ambassador to Italy Roberto Manuel Carles, who had described himself as ‘a dear friend’ of Pope Francis – a fellow Argentine.
‘I remember him on the phone asking me whether I wanted to attend a mass at a place called “Santa Marta” at 7.30am in the morning,’ she said.
‘At that point I didn’t realise the significance of Santa Marta.
‘It was only subsequently when I spoke to the British Ambassador, once I arrived in Rome, that I realised he had meant the Pope’s private residence in the Vatican, and I’d basically turned down an invitation to meet the Pope.’
Despite Mr Carles giving away her invitation on that occasion, Ms Ozanne was invited back the following week, and met the Pope after mass.
‘He took both my hands, bowed his head and told me to pray for him. It was a very special moment,’ she said.
Later, she gave Mr Carles a shirt relating to a fundraising campaign undertaken by a local parish church near Oxford, which she lived near to at the time.
‘I asked Roberto if there was any chance he [the Pope] would sign it, as Roberto was going to be seeing him again that afternoon.
‘I had been wearing it in St Peter’s Square earlier in the month for the beatification of St John Henry Newman, and the Pope saw it and gave me a thumbs up.’
She was invited back to the Vatican the next day to hear him give a speech, in which he chastised leaders for their treatment of LGBT+ people.
She said the meetings were the inspiration behind her creating The Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives, which saw hundreds of senior religious leaders from around the world sign a declaration to affirm LGBT+ people in 2020.
‘Pope Francis saw the reality of people. He had the heart to deal with the reality of people’s lives and challenged any ideology and theology he considered not to be rooted in pastoral theology,’ Ms Ozanne said.
‘He was revolutionary in his approach to so many of us.’
As for the T-shirt, she said she had since asked former archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to sign it too.
It now took pride of place – secured behind a specially built frame – in her former local parish church in Oxford, to whom she has given it.
A Memorial Mass for Pope Francis is being held tonight at St Joseph’s Church. The service will start at 6pm and all are welcome.
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