SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A Rancho Penasquitos couple originally scheduled to deliver a gift intended for Pope Francis is now hoping to attend his burial service on Saturday.
Michael and Christauria Welland were visiting in Malta, just south of Italy, when Pope Francis passed away Easter Monday.
”It really saddened us. He embodied the gospel. He was really a pope of the people," Michael Welland said.
The Wellands lead Pax in Familia, a San Diego-based initiative aimed at preventing violence and abuse within Catholic and Christian families. They also head the Oaxaca Education Fund, a four-decade-old group that provides school supplies, food, and scholarships in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Because of their ties to Oaxaca, the couple was scheduled to be at the Vatican next week to deliver a gift —a 45-page prayer booklet filled with photos and messages from families in Oaxaca, intended to lift the ailing pontiff.
"They're expressing their wishes that the ‘Holy Father’ would be better. Some of them are thanking him for his example and love," Christauria Welland said.
The couple's flight into Rome is scheduled to land at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, as the world's eyes are turned to the Vatican and the 10 a.m. funeral mass for Pope Francis.
"There will be zillions of people. There is a chance we can drop off and head to [Saint Peter’s] Basilica,” Christauria Welland said.
However, more than likely, they will miss the funeral. If that's the case, they're hoping to head to St. Mary Major Church in Rome for Pope Francis' burial.
"It's wonderful to be around that kind of love when you see so many people love somebody like that," Christauria Welland said.
"We would like to say our final goodbyes to him. Just to be there, just as he was for everyone in the world… we want to be there for him," Michael Welland said.
