S.C. boy’s letter leads to papal reply and a miracle, family says
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - As the Catholic world celebrates the election of the first-ever American pontiff, one South Carolina family is ing their own “miraculous” connection with the late Pope Francis, one sealed in faith, a little boy’s drawings, and a white envelope postmarked from the Vatican.
Six-year-old Giovanni Carmona Luna had questions: big ones.
“How did God make the world?” he asked his parents. It wasn’t the kind of question they could easily answer, especially not after hiking volcanoes in Nicaragua or visiting the awe-inspiring castles of Disney.
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But it was during a stop at the Vatican last year that something changed. Inspired, curious, and full of wonder, the boy asked if he could write a letter to the pope.
So, he did:
“Dear Papa, My name is Giovanni. I am 6 years old. I live in the city of Charleston in the United States of America. How did God make the world? I saw you earlier this month when I visited Italy and the Vatican with my family. God Bless you.”
He decorated the letter with drawings of God, the Earth, volcanoes, jaguars and big questions about faith. With help from his father, Hector Carmona, they sent the letter.
Months later, on April 18, a reply was on its way from Rome. Three days after that, on April 21, Pope Francis died.
As the Carmona family returned to the U.S. from an Easter trip, visiting family in Nicaragua, they were met not only with the heartbreaking news of the Pope’s ing but with a medical emergency. On the final day of their journey, the six-year-old fell and scraped his knees.
It seemed minor until he developed a severe infection.
“We rushed him to the nearest hospital as soon as we landed,” Carmona said. “His fever shot up, and he couldn’t move his leg. They told us it might require surgery.”
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Doctors revealed Carmona Luna’s white blood cell count had skyrocketed to 25,000, a clear sign of serious infection. The family braced for what could be weeks in the hospital.
Instead, after just four days of treatment and prayer, he was well enough to go home.
That’s when the letter arrived.
It bore the seal of the Vatican. Inside was a message from Monsignor Roberto Campisi and a signed picture from Pope Francis.
“Dear Giovanni, His Holiness Pope Francis has received your letter. He thanks you for writing to him,” Campisi wrote. “The Holy Father will pray for you and your family. and he sends his blessing.”
The timing, the message, and the recovery felt like something more than coincidence to Carmona Luna’s parents.
“To me, it was a sign,” his mother, Josefina Carmona, said. “A sign that everything was going to be okay.”
Despite the loss of his newfound Papal pen pal, Carmona Luna wasn’t sad. Instead, he grabbed a pen and responded in the only way he knew how, another letter:
Dear Pope, We still love you and we pray for you.
“It just brings you back to that faith,” Josefina Carmona said. “It reminds you what matters most.”
As the world welcomes a new pope, Leo XIV, this Lowcountry family will always hold a special place in their hearts for the one who took time to respond to their curious child just before saying goodbye to the world.
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