Charity founder meets with Pope
A DALMALLY-BASED charity has been given the Pope’s blessing and urged to continue the good work. Mary’s Meals provides one good meal to some of the world’s poorest children every school day.
The charity is registered in Dalmally and was founded by Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, who grew up in Argyll. Magnus met his holiness recently in Rome at the end of his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square – accompanied by Francesco Stefanini who is the executive director of Mary’s Meals, Italy.
Speaking in Italian, the pontiff expressed joy on hearing Mary’s Meals is now helping to feed more than one million school children across five continents.
Pope Francis said: ‘Avanti! Avanti! Avanti! Che Dio benedica il Vostro lavoro.’ Which translates into: ‘Onwards! Onwards! Onwards! May God bless your work.’
Mary’s Meals began its work in 2002, following Magnus’ visit to Malawi. At this time the organisation ensured 200 Malawi children had something to eat. After the meeting at the Vatican, Magnus said: ‘Those forceful words of Pope Francis, spoken from the depths of his heart, will remain forever a source of encouragement to me, and I hope for all of us in the Mary’s Meals family.
‘He urges us to go forward – always onwards towards that next hungry child waiting, towards this vision of ours that every child in the world might receive a meal every day in their place of education. We will remember his words especially whenever we feel discouraged, or tempted to think that the obstacles are too great.’
Pope Francis was gifted a special copy of Magnus’ bestselling book, which tells the story of Mary’s Meals. The specially-bound edition, the first ever printed in the Pope’s native language of Spanish, bore the words ‘un regalo para el Papa Francisco’ on the cover – ‘a gift for Pope Francis’.
Magnus, who initially met the Pope in 2013, continued: ‘I am profoundly grateful to the Scottish bishops who asked the holy father to meet with me and was so proud to be able to present the entire Mary’s Meals family to him again, this time in the form of my book, which tells of our shared story.’