In what he described as, “the experience of a lifetime,” Governor Larry Hogan met Pope Francis and received blessings on behalf of all cancer patients during the Pope’s visit to Washington Thursday.
Gov. Hogan at Pope Francis’ departure from Andrews Air Force Base
Seeing off @Pontifex today as he heads to NYC for the next leg of his American tour: https://t.co/Pbvx5uacxc pic.twitter.com/YKW0jqTDSh
— Larry Hogan (@LarryHogan) September 24, 2015
In a statement Hogan said, “It was an incredible honor to meet His Holiness Pope Francis today in Washington and receive his blessings on behalf of all cancer patients. My faith, like the faith of countless other patients like me, gives me strength to defeat this disease, and continue to be the best public steward I can be for the people of this great state.
I am inspired by the Pope’s words this week: He said that “Service is never ideological, for we do not serve ideas, we serve people.” Working to make people’s lives better is something I can understand and will continue to put to work in my administration as well as my life.”
Hogan said he felt ‘blessed’ after meeting the Pope and thanked him as the departed Andrews Air Force Base on the way to New York to address the United Nations.
“Later in the afternoon, I had the honor of seeing him off at Andrews Air Force Base as he left Maryland for New York,” Hogan said in a statement. “Again he grabbed my hands in both of his, I thanked him for his earlier blessing for those suffering with cancer. Again he looked into my eyes and said, ‘I pray for you.’ I thanked him and he held me tighter and repeated again as if to make sure I really knew how much he really meant it, again he said, “I pray for you!” It was a day that I will never forget and I feel incredibly blessed.”