Alright, so there I was, standing there like some nervous teenager meeting a rock star. I mean, we’re talking about the Pope! Can you believe it? Anyway — wait, sorry, let me rewind.
I’d always imagined this moment, and it was nothing like I’d planned. I walk up and say something like, “Your Holiness! Uh, pleasure to meet you! Thanks for the speech… totally enlightening!” My voice was probably like, three octaves higher than usual. Then I remembered the gift. So, I pull out this sparkly card, reverse holo foil Popplio. Yeah, it’s a Pokémon card! And I go, “Look, it’s a Popplio, kind of sounds like Pope Leo, right?” Totally on point, right? Or maybe not.
The Pope chuckles, and for a moment, I thought it was just polite. Because, you know, that’s what you do when someone hands you a Pokémon card. But then he actually starts showing it off to the guards surrounding him! Imagine that—a bunch of solemn guards trying to keep a straight face while the Pope flashes a card at them. Unreal.
Then, spur of the moment, I dive back into my pocket. Fumbling past lint and who knows what else, I grab another card, and a pen. “Mind signing one for me too?” I ask, trying to sound casual but probably failing. And he goes, “Of course!” just like that. Like it’s the most normal request in the world.
I kinda just stood there, feeling all these emotions colliding. Satisfaction, disbelief, maybe even a hint of hunger (hadn’t eaten lunch yet, oops). But more than anything, there was this laugh bubbling up from somewhere inside, just at how… bizarrely perfect it all was. So there, that was my brush with the Pope and a Popplio. A tale of holy laughs and holographic wonders.
