Pope Calls Woman Who Wrote to Him of Rape

Francis tells follower in Argentina that her letter moved him
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 29, 2013 4:11 PM CDT
Pope Calls Woman Who Wrote to Him of Rape
Pope Francis caresses a faithful as he arrives for a Mass at the St. Agostino church in downtown Rome on Aug. 28.   (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis' informal style extends to personal phone calls he makes to strangers, as an Argentina woman found out first-hand. Alejandra Pereyra says she was home knitting on Sunday when the phone rang, recounts Time. "It's Pope Francis," said her caller. "With an angelic voice, he told me to be calm and that he was calling because he had read my letter and my story struck him.”

Pereyra had told the pope in her letter that she had been raped by police at gunpoint. She says authorities there have ignored her allegations, but the pope "restored faith and peace in me and gave me strength to carry on fighting,” she told a local TV station. "When I heard the pope’s voice I felt like being touched by God.” (The pope also made headlines recently for sounding more inclusive about gay people, asking, "Who am I to judge?")

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