For Angelina and Catalina Truong, students at St. Jude Regional Catholic School in Rockville, a family pilgrimage to Rome during Holy Week became an unforgettable encounter with faith, history and a time they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
“I’ll never forget that I got a blessing from the Holy Father on Easter Sunday,” said Angelina Truong, who is 13 and a seventh grader at St. Jude Regional Catholic School.
The sisters traveled to Italy with their parents, Hoai-An Truong and Diem-Thanh (Tanya) Dang, and extended family during the Jubilee Year to experience Holy Week and Easter in Vatican City and Assisi. Like many in the crowd that filled St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday April 20, they waited with the thousands gathered there for Pope Francis’s appearance.
“Once it hit 12 p.m., minutes felt like hours,” Angelina said. “Everybody went dead silent, and the air was tense. After two guards (appeared), Pope Francis came out and said a blessing in Italian or Latin. I was shocked. The one renowned pope was there, far across from me, blessing our family.”
For Catalina Truong, who is 12 and a sixth grader at St. Jude Regional Catholic School, the moment was equally striking.
“It felt so unreal. I never imagined that I’d see him in real life,” she said. “He only looked like a small dot on the balcony, but after the blessing, he came down and greeted the faithful in his popemobile.”
Although the vehicle did not pass the side of the square where their family stood, the sisters said simply being present for the moment was meaningful.
That joy turned to disbelief the next morning, when they learned that Pope Francis had died. The family was aboard an early train to Assisi when the news broke.
“I was in a lot of shock, as I had just seen him yesterday,” Catalina said.
Angelina, who had been asleep when the conversation began, said the news left a strong impression.
“I felt some internal light turn off,” she said. “But I also knew it was God’s will that he could stay alive to give the anticipating thousands that blessing.”
The Truong family adjusted their itinerary and returned to Rome to attend the pope’s funeral on Saturday April 26. For both sisters, the experience was profound.
“Being able to actually attend the pope’s funeral in real life felt so surreal,” Catalina said.
Their trip included visits to major basilicas in Rome and sacred sites in Assisi, including the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy Stairs near the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The sisters said the spiritual atmosphere, large crowds and reverence of the events left a lasting impression.
“We visited a lot of different churches and basilicas during our trip, so something that really amazed me was all the artwork on the ceilings,” Catalina said.
Angelina said she noticed how engaged other young people in Italy seemed in the Catholic faith.
“They were very reverent,” she said. “I didn’t think they were much different from kids here, besides the fact that they spoke in Italian and seemed somewhat more aware of Catholic events than kids stateside.”
While the spiritual moments defined much of the trip, the sisters also enjoyed lighter experiences, particularly around Italian food.
“My favorite thing to eat was probably gelato,” Catalina said. “During the last few days, we had gelato almost every day. My favorite flavor was either Kinder or hazelnut.”
Angelina agreed. “I tried gelato from many boardwalks, and I would go to Italy again just to get hazelnut gelato every day,” she said. “On the first day in Milan, I had this pizza with salmon and stretchy cheese. It was heavenly.”
The pilgrimage, both said, deepened their relationship with God.
“I believe this trip has most definitely strengthened my faith,” Catalina said. “I feel that I can do many more things with God’s help, as my relationship with Him has strengthened very much.”
Angelina echoed her sister’s sentiment and said witnessing a significant moment in Church history brought her a new sense of perspective.
As the Catholic Church begins a new chapter with Pope Leo XIV, the Truong sisters carry with them the memory of a pope they saw just one day before his passing, and the blessing of a pilgrimage that helped shape their faith.
