Man has 'longest conversation' with Pope Francis at Catholic JC - what did they talk about?

From blessing babies at the National Stadium to greeting nursing home residents, Pope Francis touched the hearts of many people during his recent visit to Singapore.

For one man, exchanging words with the 87-year-old pontiff on Sept 13 was an "unexpected gift".

Donning a red tie, Lawrence Chong greeted the Pope as he arrived for an inter-religious dialogue with youths at Catholic Junior College (CJC) on the final day of his visit here.

Some netizens later gushed on social media about the images of Chong and Pope Francis embracing while engaged in a warm conversation, which was captured during a live-stream of the event.

"What a beautiful moment with the Pope," one commented in Chong's Facebook post. 

In an interview with AsiaOne on Tuesday (Sept 17), Chong, who is the organising chairman of the Pope's visit to CJC, said that he had rehearsed for the two-minute interaction in Italian.

"I told him, 'Welcome Pope Francis, my name is Lawrence and many greetings from the Focolarini," said Chong, referring to a Roman Catholic movement that he is a member of.

Chong, who is also a consultor of the Vatican's Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, described how the Pope spoke slowly and imparted words of spiritual guidance to him.

The past three interactions with the Pope were diplomatic, said Chong, adding that the latest one — his longest one yet — was due to the "right timing".

"I think it was also because he was really happy that morning seeing hundreds of young people in Singapore," he added.

'This is the Pope Francis I know' 

Pope Francis appeared to be in good spirits during the last event of his three-day visit to Singapore.

"That's the talk I prepared," the pontiff said, pointing to his speech and then going into an spontaneous exchange with the youths about the need to have courage and take risks.

For Chong, he knew there was a high chance that the Pope would go off-script during the dialogue session that day.

He had also sent the youths' questions for the Pope to Vatican officials before the event.

"From past experiences of working for such events in Rome, he loves engaging with youth leaders," Chong said, adding that it would be "too much of a show" if the Pope had stuck to his prepared speech.

"So when it happened, I was thanking God. This is the Pope Francis I know, he really dislikes officialdom and prefers connecting with the ground."

While Chong's interaction with the Pope had gone viral, the latter's response to the dialogue at CJC meant a lot more to him.

During a press conference on his flight back to Rome, Pope Francis described the inter-religious meeting as a "model of fraternity."

"That dialogue session has gone worldwide," said Chong, adding that he intends on holding similar inter-religious dialogues here in the future.

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chingshijie@asiaone.com