From sending money to posting Vatican stamps for kids, Goa's Sr Lucy remembers her last boss

Time of India

21-04-2025

Panaji:
Sister Lucy Britto
, a Goan nun who worked for 16 years in the
Vatican
and served three Popes, told TOI that she would remember
Pope Francis
as a humble pope with simple yet deep thoughts; one who was interested in building relationships and reaching out to the poorest of the poor.
Sister Lucy, who is now retired in Candolim, worked in the archives section of the Vatican secretariat. There, she sifted through a sea of mail for the Pope. This ranged from greetings to letters of appreciation, requests for prayers, requests for help to sort out family disputes, and even drawings from little children. The Sisters of Charity nun, born and raised in Cuncolim, recalls the time a child wrote in, sending a few coins in Euros, asking Pope Francis to send an equivalent amount back in Vatican currency. 'I remember Pope Francis sending double the amount in Vatican currency back to the child,' she said.
'If a child asked for a favour, he would never disappoint them,' she said, adding that he would also often oblige children who asked for stamps of the Vatican and post them to the sender. Besides being proficient in French, Sister Lucy also picked up Polish and German on the job.
Hindi and Marathi come naturally to her, and she also has a good command of Portuguese and Spanish.
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When Pope Francis met the staff at the secretariat, it was always an occasion to look forward to, she said. 'After Pope Francis became Pope in 2013, all the staff queued up to meet him. I did a 'namaste', told him my name, and that I was Indian,' she said. 'He was like a father figure to us. He wouldn't ask us about work but how we were. It was more about the person than the work,' she said, adding that his sense of humour would catch them off-guard.
At the first meeting with the staff, he noticed each staff member taking out their phones to photograph him, and told them not to publish his photos. At the next meeting, in jest, he asked them where their phones were and why they hadn't taken them out of their pockets. Sr Lucy's last meeting with him was on her last day in office in 2019. 'He asked me where I was going, and I told him I was returning to my country, India. He smiled, said 'very good', and gifted me a big rosary, which is very precious to me,' she told
TOI
.
Sr Lucy also witnessed from close quarters two Papal conclaves — which elected Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. She was a close witness, eagerly watching from her window as white smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel after the cardinals voted via secret ballot. 'I didn't have to go anywhere to find out the outcome of the voting. I watched from my own window and saw with my own eyes the smoke rising.'
'I can tell you Pope Francis was interested in families and in political affairs for the sake of maintaining peace and unity in the world. He cared for the poor, the prisoners, and nature too,' she said.