A pope and three saints: a young family’s faithful journey

When the 11-year-old Davide visited Italy last year, he told his parents that he wanted to meet the Pope. When that fell through, his Mum encouraged him to instead write to the Holy Father. Neither she—nor Davide—thought that the Holy Father might just write back! It’s a heartwarming story that finds its roots in the faith of his parents, Silvia and Andrea, who met in Assisi, migrated to Australia in 2016 and have cultivated a home life animated by the adventure of faith.

What God is calling me to

Silvia was 21 and working in her hometown of Brescia when she spotted an online advertisement for volunteers. ‘It said [in Italian], “I dreamed that life was service. I woke up and I realised that service was joy.”

‘And in that moment of my life, I was searching for something,’ recalls Silvia.

The website she visited was for the VOICA, an international youth volunteering service connected with the Canossian Daughters of Charity, founded in Italy by St Magdalene of Canossa.

It’s also the order that St Josephine Bakhita (patron saint of Sudan and human trafficking) entered. ‘My great aunt met Bakhita in Schio,’ Silvia excitedly shares. (This, it turns out, is just one of the family’s famous saintly connections. More on that later.)

Silvia eventually joined the VOICA youth service and served among volunteers from the Philippines, Australia, Poland and the United States. Within three months, the Canossians sent the youth leaders on mission around the globe. ‘Some people went to Africa, and I went to East Timor,’ says Silvia. It turned out to be a short stint, however, and Silvia returned to Rome, where she continued to serve in other areas with the Canossian Sisters. ‘I’d teach in the Canossian-system kindergarten, and then on the weekends, we’d visit the [local] orphanage. We did the choir with the teenagers in the area … I helped to form the others, to become missionaries.’

Around this time, Silvia began a relationship with a fellow youth leader. ‘We were dating for one year, but he told me, “Look, I think my vocation is to become a priest.” So I was heartbroken.’ The two remained friends, however, and travelled to Assisi together for a youth retreat.

‘We went to this three-day course in Assisi, to help you understand your vocation and what God’s calling you to do.’ Silvia explains. She may have been heartbroken, but God clearly had other plans for Silvia: her ex-boyfriend’s roommate in Assisi, Andrea, eventually became her husband.

Having just finished his university degree, Andrea had also travelled to Assisi seeking guidance on his next steps. He says he’d always felt a closeness to the Franciscans, attending youth events and taking part in the Franciscan Youth. ‘I was in a vocational group,’ Andrea says, ‘but I didn’t necessarily want to become a priest.

‘My faith is linked to St Francis. My mum was baptised by and received first Holy Communion from [St] Padre Pio, and my grandfather was a spiritual son of Padre Pio,’ explains Andrea—saintly connection number two!

Silvia and Andrea became friends and exchanged numbers but didn’t see each other again for almost a year. In the meantime, Silvia continued volunteering with the Canossian Sisters and joined a group who attended World Youth Day in Sydney.

‘[World Youth Day] was a very beautiful experience,’ recalls Silvia. It was also a time of deep reflection on her own vocation. ‘I was really praying … I wanted to get married, [have a] family … and [Andrea’s] name kept coming to my mind.’

She remembers taking a leap of faith and calling Andrea while she was in Australia. ‘I found the courage to make the phone call from Australia, and then his sister said that he wasn’t home,’ she laughs.

The two eventually reunited and decided to marry in Assisi. They were married by one of the Franciscan friars they’d encountered during their youth retreat, Fr Francesco. It was also Fr Francesco who advised them, a few years later, to take a leap of faith and emigrate to Australia.

Andrea had reconnected with a university classmate who was working in Melbourne, and who suggested that he apply for a job with their company.

‘I just said, “OK, apply,”’ shares Silvia, who was coming to the end of her maternity leave at the time. ‘Agnese was one and Davide was three. And I was thinking, [Australia’s] too far … how can you get a job when they don’t even know you?’

Within months, Andrea left his job in Milan and the young family were headed for Melbourne. It was a leap of faith, they admit, to move to a place without any family or networks other than Andrea’s university classmate.

‘As we sat on the plane, I was like, “What if this is all a joke? What if we arrive in Melbourne and no one is there?’ Silvia remembers. ‘What do we do?’

Thankfully, it wasn’t a joke, and Andrea’s classmate was waiting to welcome them at Tullamarine Airport.

Passing on the faith

In 2024, the family decided to fly back home to Italy for a holiday, and in the lead-up Andrea asked the kids what they wanted to do upon arrival.

‘I told them, we are going back to Italy, and we don’t know when we’re going back again, so let’s organise something special. Everyone can say something that they really want to do, and we can try to make it [happen],’ says Andrea.

‘I said I want to eat pizza, and then Davide said, “I want to meet the Pope”, says Silvia, sharing how pleasantly surprised they were at their son’s request.

The family had been tuning in to the livestreamed Masses during COVID and would sometimes have the Pope’s Sunday Angelus playing in the background at home, a tradition that Silvia says she grew up with.

Davide shares that this is why he was keen to meet the Pope Francis. ‘I saw some Masses and I knew I wouldn’t see him for a long time, and because he was very old and we might not go back to Italy.’

As heartwarming as the request was, Silvia realised that the family would be visiting during the European summer, when the Pope is traditionally on holiday. ‘So I told Davide if we can’t meet the Pope, at least we can go to Rome and we can see St Peter’s.

‘I called the Canossian Sisters and the Mother Superior did everything she could, but they said, the Pope is not here … he’s not available.’

That’s when Davide had an idea, Silvia shares. ‘He thought, maybe if I write to the Pope, and I tell him that I live in Australia and we’ll only be there for this day ... so he wrote a letter and said, “My name is Davide. I’m an 11-year-old Catholic boy and I have a lot of faith. Last year I received my first Holy Communion and it was amazing ...’.

‘So, the first or second day we arrived [in Italy], he put the letter in the post and then two months passed ... We came back and had already forgotten about our trip already when we got this package from the Pope.’

In a letter written in Italian and addressed to Davide, the Holy Father sends his warmest greetings and thanks him for reaching out:

Dear Davide ... In a kind letter received here, accompanied by some of your photographs, you addressed expressions of great affection to Pope Francis, asking for a sign of spiritual closeness. Thank you for the sentiments you expressed to him. The Holy Father assures you of his prayers so that you may continue your journey with confidence. He urges you to cultivate a friendship with Jesus, as it also becomes an opportunity to open yourself to others. Choose high and challenging life goals, and find the strength to achieve them.

With these wishes, His Holiness sends you his apostolic blessing, along with the enclosed gift blessed by him, so that you may experience together with your family and friends the joy of welcoming the Lord’s love into your heart and witnessing it to your peers. I also send you my warmest greeting.*

Davide said he was shocked to receive the reply.

‘I felt shocked because I kind of forgot, since it was such a long time [ago],’ he smiles. ‘I felt really special.’

Davide proudly holds up the letter and the enclosed cross, which Silvia says he now wears everywhere. ‘He wears [the cross] on special occasions like his Confirmation day, his sister’s Communion, Easter, Christmas … It’s very special.’

Silvia says they felt overjoyed when Davide received the letter. ‘I was so happy because, honestly, I was wondering, I hope he’s not going to be upset because I’m sure the Vatican receives many letters, and maybe they don’t even bother to open them, [but] the fact that it says, thank you for the picture of the family, I was like, that’s so special!

‘I felt so happy for him, because I didn’t tell him write to the Pope. He was the one who said I wish to meet the Pope. And if he’s away, then I want to write him, because maybe if I write him, he will see me.’

The influence of Carlo Acutis

While they were in Italy, the family also made the trip to Assisi—their first visit since Silvia and Andrea married—and prayed at the tomb of another (soon-to-be) saint, Carlo Acutis.

Davide shares that this is why he chose ‘Carlos Acutis’ as his Confirmation name earlier this year.

‘Because I knew about him and what he did with his life,’ explains Davide. ‘We even went to his tomb when we went to Italy, and I had a deep connection with him.’

What drew him to Carlo Acutis? ‘His devotion to the Eucharist,’ Davide says. ‘I felt like it was really important.’

‘It was really emotional to see Carlo’s body in exposition,’ Silvia says. ‘It looks like he’s just sleeping there, with the sneakers and his jumper. He’s just, you know, a 15-year-old boy.’

The family regularly reads a children’s book on the life of Carlo Acutis, which Silvia says helps to illustrate to their kids how faith and holiness can be found in the ordinary.

‘[Carlo] was a young boy … he went to school, and I’m sure he had his own struggles with friends. But to show that, how do I say … that if you are yourself, if you stand up for yourself, don’t just follow others ...

‘He had the courage to say: “I love Jesus ... I go to Mass.” And look, now he’s going to be a saint.’

Carlo’s life has clearly already had an impact on Davide, and his parents hope it continues. ‘I hope [the children] will always feel loved,’ Silvia says, ‘and they will always love themselves and feel happy for what they are.’

Now with three children, Silvia and Andrea are aware of the joys and challenges of raising a family in the Catholic faith. They love the home they have created in Melbourne but reminisce about their own experiences in Italy of youth camps and retreats hosted by the local parishes and worry that their own children may not have the same experiences.

And, like many parents, they wonder if the faith will play an important role in their kids’ lives as it has in theirs.

‘Our family is like a little church,’ reflects Andrea. ‘They can share here, but when they go outside and when they [reach] teenage years, it might be harder maybe to share [the faith] with their peers.’

‘When we moved to Australia, we asked our parish priest Fr Francesco to pray for us,’ shares Silvia. ‘We said, what do we do? And his advice was to go to Australia as a mission.’

Silvia concedes that the same prayers that led her to her own vocation are helpful even today, as they watch their children grow. ‘I feel that I’m always praying to Carlo Acutis, to be honest, that he will lead their feet toward Jesus.’