Pasco couple fondly remembers blessing from Pope Francis

Here’s a story of a young newlywed couple, Alberto “Beto” Anguiano and Alexia Estrada. They live in Pasco, in southeast Washington state. Their marriage was blessed by Pope Francis last November. 

Anguiano grew up very Catholic, while Estrada grew up very Protestant — but they both remember the late pope’s kindness, humanity and humor. Pope Francis’ funeral is expected to be on Saturday.

Here’s Anguiano and Estrada’s conversation with NWPB’s Senior Correspondent Anna King.

Alexia Estrada holds rosaries blessed by Pope Francis last year. (Courtesy: Alexia Estrada and Alberto “Beto” Anguiano)

Alberto Anguiano:  I’m Alberto Anguiano and I’m 28 years old. And I live in Pasco, originally from Colima, Mexico.

Alexia Estrada: And I am Alexia Estrada. I live in Pasco, Washington, from Pasco, Washington.”

Anguiano: I don’t know how she did it, but she got tickets to see the pope. 

It was around 5 a.m. when we got up. ‘Cause we wanted to make sure we were, you know, we had enough time to get ready and also to get to the Vatican and wait in line because we have to wait.

Estrada: I knew I was seeing a, a global leader and someone who was really important.

In my own life, I think I envisioned things a certain way because of how religious I had grown up and in a different denomination. And when I was with Beto sitting next to him, I just felt so lucky to have been exposed to the Catholic faith and to have met the pope. He was so warm and so friendly.

When he was going around, he’d bless certain couples and he’d stop at others and he’d bless some. And I was so nervous, but I wanted Beto to get time with him. So I said, “Beto, you should come up with a question to ask him like, now is your chance, like, what do you wanna know from him?”

Beto, when he came around, leaned in and said, “What advice do you have for us?” You know, you’re expecting something super wise. I don’t know what I was expecting actually, but he basically was like, “Fight as much as you’d like.”

And then you just hear everyone next to me and Beto and I just start laughing ’cause it was not what we expected, but he ended it with making sure to say, “Fight as much as you’d like, but always make sure to make peace at the end of the night because a cold war in the morning is never good for anyone.”

And then he said to pray a lot together. But you could just like tell he was so warm. And then afterwards, we were just on a high.

And I, as I was reflecting on it, with his passing too, I realized that the pope brought me and Beto closer together and felt like home for me. And sometimes I can get caught up in the differences of how I grew up and the faith that my husband shares in the family that we’re a part of. And I think everything that the pope spoke about and shared really feels like home and really resonates with me.

And side note, Beto was wearing his Charro suit, which is the Mariachi outfit. And all the older ladies were obsessed with him.

And it was the funniest little after moments that made it also very special.

Alexia Estrada and Alberto “Beto” Anguiano celebrate being in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City just before meeting the pope. (Courtesy: Alexia Estrada and Alberto “Beto” Anguiano)

Anguiano: I think the thing that I’ll miss the most is his kindness. And his love for, for all humanity.

Estrada: I didn’t grow up with the pope in my life the way that Beto did, but I really think we will miss someone who just really shared God’s love with like the most humble people. And always, I told Beto, I feel like he centered me when it came to Christ’s teachings on loving the least of these and really what’s important. And you don’t really get leaders like that these days that are selfless and really centering those on the margins.

And I think he’s one of the leaders that we could look up to and say, you know, this really is why we’re here. We’re here to love each other. We’re here to take care of each other. And I think we’ll miss that. We’ll miss someone who can guide people in that way with humor and with love.