Johannesburg, 28 February, 2025 / 9:27 pm (ACI Africa).
Sheila Leocádia Pires, the Mozambican-born journalist who serves as the Communications Officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) is praying for the recovery of the ailing Holy Father, Pope Francis, with whom she says she shared light moments on the sidelines of the 2021-2024 Synod on Synodality gatherings, where she served as Secretary of the Commission for Information.
In an interview with Newzroom Africa shared with ACI Africa on Friday, February 28, the day it was published on YouTube, Sheila says that in one of the feel-good moments she shared with Pope Francis, the Holy Father sent a message to her compatriots in the Southern African nation, who had plunged in violence following a contested election on 9 October 2024.
The South Africa-based Catholic journalist, who gave daily press briefings of the Synod on Synodality says she would strategically make it to the synod hall early enough to chat with the Holy Father.
“Because I had to deal with press briefings during lunch time, I would go back early to the synod hall and those were the times when I had the opportunity to interact with the Pope, talk about different things,” Sheila told Newzroom Afrika.
She added, “At one point, I remember speaking to him (Pope Francis) about the October elections in Mozambique, and I asked him, ‘would you mind doing a video message to the people in Mozambique and say hi?’ and he said, ‘Sure, let’s do it’ and he actually did a video in Portuguese. He actually spoke in Portuguese.”
