“Mr Yayo Grassi, a former Argentine student of Pope Francis, who had already met other times in the past with the Pope, asked to present his mother and several friends to the Pope during the Pope’s stay in Washington,” said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.
Grassi, 67, a caterer in Washington has known the pope since Francis taught him literature and psychology at a Buenos Aires high school in the 1960s.
Grassi told the New York Times that he had contacted the Vatican for an audience but then reconsidered when he realized how busy the pope would be. Francis then called Grassi personally, saying he wanted to give him a hug.