Pope fulfills mothers' hope for blessing

Delaware moms Nancy Lemus and Luz Moyao drove to the papal Mass in Philadelphia early Saturday, hoping for a blessing with perhaps miraculous effects.

Lemus' son Christopher Garcia, 10, has severe cerebral palsy and dystonia, a neurological muscle movement disorder. Moyao's son Angel Zavaleta, 8, has TARP Syndrome, a rare condition that causes several birth defects.

Lemus and Moyao sat in the front row of the chapel at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul waiting for Pope Francis, who was to walk past them. Christopher was lying in his medical stroller. Angel sat in his.

"I'm hoping the pope will bless him because he's been between life and death," Moyao said in Spanish, which Lemus translated.

"Many people told me to, but I believe there is a higher power," said Moyao, 27, of Wilmington, a mother who stays at home.

The women met at medical appointments for their children several years ago and have been friends since, bonded by the struggles they share.

Christopher's condition was caused by a lack of oxygen at birth and a staph infection. He was on life support for 15 days. Angel remained in the hospital for eight months after he was born.

Lemus, of Newark, Del., said sometimes their children aren't treated with respect. "It's like people believe you must have done something bad for this to happen," she said.

"We are hoping for a blessing," said Lemus, who works as a lead server in a restaurant. "We are Catholic and our children bring faith, kindness and love, and that's what Pope Francis is doing for the world."

Francis did not let them down.

When he entered the chapel, the pontiff came right to the boys, "hugged them, blessed them, and made the sign of the cross on their foreheads,'' Lemus said.

"It was once in a lifetime.''