Father Franco Semeraro tells Vatican News how Pope Leo XIV came to the aid of his brother, Fr Diego, after he felt faint on May 27 at the end of the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square.
Vatican News
The image quickly spread throughout the world: a cluster of men in dark suits gathered yesterday, May 27, in the front rows of St. Peter’s Square at the end of the Wednesday General Audience. Then Pope Leo XIV appeared, descending from the platform where he had been speaking and kneeling down to understand what had happened.
The person being helped was Father Diego Semeraro, a priest from Martina Franca, a town in Puglia, southern Italy, who had come to Rome together with his brother Father Franco and felt ill due to the heat.
Father Franco is celebrating 60 years since his ordination and had presented Pope Leo with an album containing photographs of the relics of Saint Augustine when they arrived in Martina Franca about 20 years ago.
Pope Leo XIV helps Father Diego
“It was an extraordinary thing,” Father Franco told Vatican News, describing the event.
As the pair approached the platform for the traditional handshake with the Pope that occurs at the end of the General Audience, Father Diego began to feel ill. “After standing three hours in the sun, my brother felt faint, he fell quite badly, and now he’s a bit sore, but thank God he is fine now,” Father Franco explained.
Pope Leo XIV “was the first to kneel down and go help him,” Father Franco said, describing the surprise of Father Diego himself, who exclaimed, “Your Holiness, is that really you?”
The Pope then shook his hand and gave him a rosary. After the incident, the priest was taken to the Vatican emergency room for examinations, which reportedly showed no problems.
He later had lunch after the General Audience and celebrated Mass.
Ordained in St. Peter’s Square
It was not the first time that Father Diego – who will turn 82 in June – has experienced strong emotions in St. Peter’s Square, as in 1970 he was ordained a priest there by Pope Paul VI. For years he served at the Holy Family parish in Martina Franca, where he carried out a long pastoral ministry.
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