Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Papal Nuncio to the United States, visited St. Pius X on February 20 while in Atlanta to give a lecture at Emory titled “The Vision of Pope Francis for a Synodal Church.” A Papal Nuncio serves as the Pope’s ambassador to countries around the world and they report directly to the Vatican. 

Cardinal Pierre was born in France and schooled in Madagascar. He then received his masters in Cannon Law from the Pontifical Lantern University, which is also known as “The Pope’s University.” He has previously served as the Papal Nuncio to Haiti, Uganda, and Mexico.

Accompanied by Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer, he held a brief Q&A session with junior and senior theology students where he answered questions from five students about the Catholic Church, such as the importance of Catholic education and the Church’s role in advancing social justice issues. 

Afterwards, AP French students gave a tour of the school in French, his native language. 

Senior Molly Pitra, one of the students who led the tour, said “I’m a Lion Leader so I like giving tours anyway, and it was cool to give one in French.” 

While she was initially nervous, Pitra said the Papal Nuncio’s demeanor was very friendly. 

“He’s just a really nice guy,” said Pitra. “He was super patient with us, even when we stumbled a little bit on our words.”

She also said he wanted to hear all about their school activities and their time at St. Pius. 

“We showed one of the computer labs where our robotics stuff is, and I’m on the robotics team, so I got to tell him a little bit about that,” Pitra said.

Although his English was great, Pira said, “I was a little surprised [that] I could understand him way better in French!”

One of the other people on the tour was Ms. Ashley Curlette, who photographed the event for the school and “The Georgia Bulletin.”

“They [the AP French students] were so fluent in French. It seemed like a very relaxed, comfortable conversation,” said Ms. Curlette.

While Ms. Curlette didn’t understand everything they were saying, she could tell that the Papal Nuncio and the students were having a great time. 

“He seemed to really enjoy talking to the kids,” she said, “and the students did such a phenomenal job.”

Near the end of the tour when they walked past the detention room, Pitra said, “he and the Archbishop joked that he should go in and give a pardon to all of the detention students for that day and just release them!”

While his departure was bittersweet for all the students still in detention, his visit will be a memorable part of St. Pius history.