When Pope Francis died, the moment was deeply felt by Catholics around the world. While his death marks the end of an era for the Catholic Church, his impact was also felt by everyday people, including some in Oyster Bay, who managed to cross paths with the first pontiff from the Americas.
Local couple Ravin Chetram and Denise Domenechi-Chetram were in Italy on vacation last month, and had plans to finish their trip in Rome. They never imagined their arrival would coincide with Francis’s death, or his lying in state at St. Peter’s Basilica.
“We lucked out,” Chetram. “It’s crazy to say we lucked out for a death, but we did.”
The couple arrived in Rome on April 24, and stayed just three blocks from the Vatican. Within hours they were able to view the pope’s body inside the iconic basilica. Chetram, who was raised Hindu, said he does not practice any religion regularly, but the experience made a deep spiritual impact on him.
“I do believe in prayer,” he said. “And whenever something is that powerful that someone believes in, you feel that energy.”
It was not Chetram’s wife’s first time in the Eternal City, but Domenechi-Chetram said that the heightened emotions of the residents of Rome, as well as tourists and the gathered clergy, changed the dynamic of both the city and the Vatican.
“It was such an overwhelming experience,” she said. “There were people there crying, people mourning, people praying, so it was really just incredible to be there and to feel that.”
Still, as the couple joined crowds lining up to pay the respects to Francis, what had started as a sightseeing trip became something greater. The couple also watched the funeral procession, and toured the Sistine Chapel just before it closed for the conclave that will choose the next pope.
“To stand in that room and look at the ceiling, man, it’s intriguing,” Ravin said. “You feel it. You get goose bumps.”
Back in Oyster Bay, Bob and Donna Viscovich have their own treasured memory of Pope Francis — one from much closer to home. In 2015, during the pontiff’s historic visit to the United States, the Viscoviches and their son, Nicholas, were invited to attend a Mass at Madison Square Garden by St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, and they were seated just feet from the pope’s path.
The most memorable moment came when Francis blessed Nicholas, who has Down syndrome and has suffered from several health issues throughout his life.
“I was practically pushing Nicholas to the usher. ‘Please,’ I kept saying,” Donna recounted, describing the almost palpable energy in the arena as Francis addressed her son. “The pope took his hands, looked him straight in the eyes and blessed him right on the forehead. The whole rest of the Mass, we were hysterically crying.”
For Bob, a lifelong Catholic and an active member of the St. Dominic’s community, the encounter reinforced the pope’s unique ability to connect with people from all walks of life. It also reaffirmed his belief in the Church, and he said it led him to be more active in the church.
“For most of my adult life, I was a pretty lukewarm Catholic, unlike my wife,” Bob acknowledged. “Maybe a year before that meeting with the pope, I had had a profound reversion to the faith, and so that meeting with the pope was just another sign.”
Francis’s emphasis on humility, inclusion and compassion resonated deeply with the Viscoviches.
Chetram left Rome with a similar respect for the pope’s global influence. “This man did so much,” he said. “He dedicated his life to what he did, and to be able to walk in and be part of that — that’s what makes it touching for me.”
His trip with his wife, which included stops in Milan, Positano and Capri before ending in Rome, became, in retrospect, a pilgrimage — not for doctrine, but for meaning.
“It was overwhelming,” Ravin said. “The power, when I walked in … I can’t believe that that happened.”
