What Kids Want to Ask the Pope during His Trip to the United States

By Alison Lesley --
25 Aug 2015 --

Students will get the chance to personally speak with Pope Francis this September when he visits the U.S.

Pope Francis better be ready to answer some questions when he visits the United States this September because American children are already crafting their queries, reports the Deseret News.

Students from four New York City schools were asked what they would want to find out about the Pope. The schools– St. Ann School, St. Charles Borromeo School, St. Paul School and Our Lady Queen of Angels– are all part of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York’s Partnership for Inner-City Education.

24 students will be lucky enough to win a lottery and get a chance to speak personally with the Pope.

Nicholas Marronaro is a fourth grader from Our Lady Queen of Angels. He has a LOT of questions for #PopeFrancis. "I'm going to ask him how did he survive with one lung, how does it feel to be the first non-European pope in 1,200 years, and I'm going to ask if he collects the stamps that has his face on it, because as a kid he collected stamps," Marronaro says.
A video posted by HuffPost Religion (@huffpostrelig) on Aug 20, 2015 at 1:35pm PDT

Nicholas Marranaro, a fourth grader from Our Lady Queen of Angels, wants to know how Pope Francis has survived with one lung, how it feels to be the first non-European Pope in 1200 years, and as a stamp collector, if he collects stamps the have his own picture on them.

Nicholas Marronaro is a fourth grader from Our Lady Queen of Angels. He has a LOT of questions for #PopeFrancis. "I'm going to ask him how did he survive with one lung, how does it feel to be the first non-European pope in 1,200 years, and I'm going to ask if he collects the stamps that has his face on it, because as a kid he collected stamps," Marronaro says.
A video posted by HuffPost Religion (@huffpostrelig) on Aug 20, 2015 at 1:35pm PDT

“I’m going to ask the Pope why did he give his motorcycle to charity?” said fourth grader Maziya Clemente of the St. Ann School.

Noah Rodriguez, a classmate of Maziya, wants to speak to the Pope about his commitment to saving the Earth. Rodriguez initiated a clean-up and flower planting project around the school and hopes to tell Pope Francis about it.

Allison Reyes-Rodriguez, a third grader from Our Lady Queen of Angels simply wants to tell the Pope that he is a “great man,” and that she wants to thank God for the opportunity he gave both the Pope and the children.

St. Charles Borromeo fourth grader Farida Mintoumba wants to tell the Pope about “thanking God for the gifts of the Earth.”

Finally, Essa Nahshal, who is Muslim and one of the three out of every four students at St. Charles Borromeo who is not Catholic, wants to know how the Pope got from Argentina to Italy.

Clearly these children have done their homework, and hopefully Pope Francis can pass their exam.