Teenage, prize-winning Argentine author gets papal hug
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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)
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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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."