Clare Stevenson, a 16-year-old Wiradjuri student from Loreto Normanhurst in Sydney was given a special opportunity to speak with Pope Francis in May. The only high school student in attendance, was able to describe her hopes for the future to Pope Francis and spoke about following the missions set out for Catholics in his encyclical, Laudato si’. We spoke to her about the experience.
Can you tell us about the audience? Because he [the Pope] lives in Rome, the Zoom meeting was actually at midnight. So, we had to get driven there pretty late and it went a little bit over time because a lot of the other countries, who are already a part of Scholas, zoomed into the call, from around everywhere which was really, really cool. But it was sort of focused around us because we were opening it in Australia.
It was really exciting and I met some amazing people at Australian Catholics University. I met a beautiful Indigenous Elder (Theresa Ardler) there who did the Acknowledgement of Country, which was very amazing.
What did you say to the Pope? I said I am a proud Wiradjuri woman from a rural town in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, and I do these sort of things at school and I try and excel in these areas. But overall, during Laudato si’ Week, I wanted to as a youth, live out his mission.
How did he respond? He gave me a lot of big thumbs up, and a lot of big claps and a lot of big waves. Especially when he found out I was only 16.
How was technology used during the night? We were supposed to go to Rome, and I only found that out after. Instead technology was such a big part, especially through the Zoom call. We had to have an hour practice before we zoomed in, to know where we are sitting, where the cameras are, when the mics are going to turn on.
Did you feel you were in the presence of holiness or was it just a very special opportunity? Honestly both. It was so amazing just to be there, and obviously not being able to be there in Italy, [still] seeing how many people went in through the zoom call. There were people in stadiums watching me standing up there trying to talk to the Pope and hearing him talk. Even through translators, the words he was saying, I found it so inspirational.
What was the biggest takeaway of the night? My biggest takeaway was probably just the opportunities that you can have when you just push yourself. Even if it’s like in the smallest things or the biggest things, he said that anything can make a change. Even if he wasn’t saying that directly to me, he was saying that to all youths, which I found so incredible.
Emma Frank and Feronia Ding are Year 11 students at Loreto Normanhurst, NSW, and were two of the guest editors of the Spring 2021 edition.