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Rome - Pope Francis August 27,2017

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A JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF HOPE

“ W I T H A L L T H E H E A R T- B I R D S F O R S T. F R A N C I S "

A Journey In Search of Hope, it all started back in September of 2015 when I began to prepare for the opportunity to meet
with Pope Francis as part of a congrega@on par@cipa@ng in the Miami Pilgrimage, For Papal Visit to Cuba. In prepara@on for the Pope's

visit to Cuba I reached out to a number of United States Cardinals
and Bishops looking to secure an opportunity to present the
Pope with the pain@ng “WITH ALL THE HEART- BIRDS FOR ST.
Frances” painted by Interna@onally acclaimed Lebanese arDst
Mouna Basil Sehnaoui, in support of bringing aIen@on to the
Genocides of Chris@ans taking place in the Middle East and
other minority religious groups in suppor@ng the great working
being done by In Defense of Chris@ans.
Do to the complexi@es surrounding the Cuban
visit I was informed that it would be beIer to present the
pain@ng to the Pope on his visit to Washington D.C. which
the Anthony R. Abraham Founda@on was one of the
underwri@ng sponsors. With numerous communica@ons
going back and forth to the organiza@onal leadership in
Washington, I was again informed upon my arrival in
Washington that the @ming for the presenta@on of the
pain@ng to the Pope would not be allowed due to the
Pope hec@c schedule.
It had been almost 11 months since the Pope's visit to the
United States when I received a phone call to par@cipate in a
special mee@ng in Rome concerning the Genocides of Chris@ans
being perpetrated by ISIS in the Middle East and that Pope
Francis would be mee@ng with the delega@on to be presented
with the findings of the group. I learned at this mee@ng I would
finally be able to present Pope Francis with the pain@ng. This
was truly a miracle in the making.
Finally, aTer two aIempts to deliver the pain@ng to Pope Francis
I was elated to be preparing arrangements to have the pain@ng
specially packaged and delivered to Rome for my presenta@on
to Pope Francis on the 28th of August 2016. In repara@on to

meet with the Pope, I had prepared as backup a special document
and package that contained a personal leIer from me and photograph of the pain@ng that I could present to customs if needed. I also
had secured this special personalized document on the back of the pain@ng as a permanent reference for the Pope as to the
significance of this pain@ng.

Call it divine fate, 24 hours before I was to meet with Pope Francis I was informed by FedEx and Italian customs that the
pain@ng was being held up in Naples and that it would not arrive on @me for me to present to the Pope. I was truly disappointed yet

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Rome - Pope Francis August 27,2017

measured my disappointment by the fact that I was s@ll going to have an opportunity to meet with
his holiness Pope Francis. Thank God, I had carried a copy of the leIer and photograph of the
pain@ng with me for customs. It was this leIer and photograph that I presented to the Pope as I
explained to his Holiness that this was the third @me that I had tried to present him with the pain@ng
and had asked him jokingly if he would allow me one more opportunity to present him the pain@ng
upon my next trip to Rome, which he smiled and gestured yes.

Thanks to a dear friend who I met on the trip Michael
Guarino, who was traveling to the Va@can with me
Michael had offered me a special giT he had secured
to present to the Pope, a white skullcap which he
presented to me to present to Pope Francis, indica@ng
that the Pope would perform a special ritual as his way Letter & Photo for Pope

of saying thank you and present the giT back to me. I was
truly blessed to have had this opportunity to share with Pope Francis this unique
symbolic moment especially aTer not being able to present the pain@ng to his Holiness.

Exchange of Skull Caps So the photos represent a moment in @me conversing with his Holiness as to significant
of “WITH ALL THE HEART- BIRDS FOR ST. FRANCIS” pain@ng and my desire to present to
him in person next year this pain@ng. The second blessing was then having Pope Francis
share of light moment of levity in providing me with a skullcap that he had worn on his
head even for a brief @me as his giT to me.

So this “A Journey In Search of Hope” again proved that with faith and pa@ence even the
impossible can become possible. It was at this @me that my dear friend who was
pubng on the special conference consulted with me to assure me that we
would definitely deliver the paining to Pope Francis in 2017.

So on August 27,2017 I had the privilege to invite my friend acclaimed
Lebanese arDst Mouna Basil Sehnaoui to come to Rome with the assurance that
we would deliver the pain@ng to the Pope and also get him to bless the limited
edi@on of twenty-five Sehnaoui ar@st proof serigraphs that were produced in
support of raising funds for IDC. We also want to extend our humble
apprecia@on for the tremendous work of IDC, advoca@ng for a Middle East in
which the rights of every person are protected and respected regardless of
religious creed, and in which the ancient and diverse Chris@an and other
religious minority communi@es of the Middle East thrive peacefully in their
na@ve lands.

On behalf of the Anthony R. Abraham Founda@on we want to again Artist Mouna Sehnaoui
extend our sincerest thanks of gra@tude to Mouna Basil Sehnaoui for her
con@nued support and friendship and for also contribu@ng such a amazing legacy art pice
that symbolizes and showcases the religious symbolic beauty of Christ's message that we are all one in faith with the Lord.

GodSpeed!

Thomas Abraham The Voice of Anthony R. Abraham Foundation
Chairman 2
Anthony R. Abraham Founda@on

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Rome - Pope Francis August 27,2017

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