Teenage, prize-winning Argentine author gets papal hug

Pope Francis greets Argentine author Veronica Cantero Burroni during the weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 1, 2016. Veronica Cantero Burroni, who is wheel-chair bound thanks to a neurological problem, had a spot in the VIP section of Francis' Wednesday general audience. She was in Italy to receive a literary award named for the Italian writer Elsa Morante. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo Via AP) (The Associated Press)

VATICAN CITY – A prize-winning, teenage Argentine author has given Pope Francis a copy of her latest book and a hug.

Veronica Cantero Burroni, who is in a wheelchair because of a neurological problem, had a spot in the VIP section of Francis' general audience on Wednesday. She was in Italy to receive a literary award named for the Italian writer Elsa Morante.

Veronica, who turns 14 on Friday, gave Francis a copy of her fifth book "The Shadow Thief," which she said she had dedicated to history's first Argentine pope.

After their brief meeting in St. Peter's Square, she told reporters: "I told him I loved him, that I prayed for him, and thanked him."