Do you have memories or photos of Pope Francis? Send us a voicemail through the WTOP News app, available on Apple or Android. Click the “Feedback” button in the app’s navigation bar.
As the world mourns the loss of Pope Francis, a Maryland woman is sharing in the sorrow — but she gets a smile thinking about a day almost 10 years ago when she was able to give the pontiff a gift during his visit to D.C.
“I always think about that day. It changed my life,” said Zaida Mulitz, of Silver Spring.
Mulitz was among thousands of people who gathered along Massachusetts Avenue in Northwest D.C. to see the pope as he left the Vatican Embassy and headed to Joint Base Andrews, marking the end of his two-day visit.
She brought with her a hat from Paraguay, an American flag and a letter she hoped to give to the pope. To get the chance, she said she chose a spot she hoped would get the pope’s attention and provided the best chance for the motorcade to slow down.
“There were nuns, like three or four nuns. There was a beautiful baby. There was somebody in a wheelchair,” Mulitz recalled. “He slowed down, and I started running with him.”
When the motorcade started to pass, the car the pope traveled in moved closer to the crowd and, as she expected, the pontiff waved his hand out the window. Despite the heavy police presence in the motorcade, Mulitz took a chance to run alongside the pope, handing him the gifts, even though he lost hold of the American flag.
For Mulitz, the most important part was the letter, in which she called Pope Francis her friend and asked him to bless the United States and her native Paraguay and pray for world peace.
“I put my phone number, and I put my name, and I said, ‘please call me sometime,’” Mulitz said.
She joked that in the decade that followed, there have been days in which she wondered if a missed long-distance call was from the Vatican.
“I always think about that,” she said.
Mulitz said while some have called her move risky, because of the Secret Service that surrounded the Pope, she said that wasn’t a concern in her mind at the time.
“I don’t know if I was risky in that moment. I did not realize, because I knew that he wouldn’t care. He wouldn’t mind,” she said.
She said she was saddened by the news of the pope’s passing, especially since it was a pope she said she was drawn to because he was from Argentina and spoke Spanish, which is her first language.
“He was special. He accepted everybody,” she said.
Mulitz said the story of the day she got close to the pope will live on in her family, joking that when someone tells her they met someone famous, she enjoys following up with her story.
“I’d say, ‘I touched the Pope. I touched his finger.’ I did,” Mulitz said.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
