As you know, last week I had the privilege of being part of a small group, invited by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, to join him on Pilgrimage to Rome. You will see from the pictures that I had the most amazing time. Not only were we invited to be guests at the Papal Audience, Cardinal Vincent arranged for us to actually meet the Holy Father in person. Wow!!

It was such an honour that you, the staff, the parishioners of OLSK Parish and my own Parish of St Mary's in Harvington, entrusted me with all your prayer intentions, which I was able to hand directly to Pope Francis during my visit.

Y6 were absolutely thrilled to hear that I handed to Pope Francis, their book of poems which they had written about Solidarity & the Common Good. I also bought him a book about The Legend of St Kenelm, for him to read and get to know, the Patron Saint of our school & parish.

During this Pilgrimage, we were invited to the Venerable English College, to join Cardinal Vincent and all the Seminarians for Holy Mass. After the service, during supper, I spoke to the Seminarians and the priests, about all the work that we are doing around Catholic Social Teaching. They were enthralled with what we are achieving as a school & parish community; and congratulated us on the work we have done, to achieve the accolade of a School of Sanctuary. Well done everyone!

During my time at St Peter's Basilica, I was able to offer all prayers for our school & parish family, and especially those in our school community, who have passed recently. I prayed for peace within, not only our school families and the wider community, but the wider world too.

On my return, in a whole school assembly, I shared all my experiences with the children, including meeting the Holy Father Pope Francis, my visit to the Colosseum and the throwing a coin for good luck, into Trevi Fountain. I also presented each class with Rosary Beads, blessed at the Vatican, for them to use in Class Liturgy and display on their Prayer Tables in Class. The Liturgy Leaders were absolutely thrilled with their gifts for their class and I look forward to celebrating Class Liturgy with them during Lent.