Currents News Staff
Before Alberto Lopez Brasaola died, a friend promised to take his painting to the Pope. Ibon Perez has made Brasaola’s wish come true.
It was like asking for a miracle seeming impossible. But Ibon Pérez, a young Basque from Lekeitio, has fulfilled the promise he made to painter Alberto López Brasaola before his death last March.
Pérez, accompanied by Brasaola’s family, gave Pope Francis Barsaola’s painting at the end of the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square.
Brasaola passed away at the age of 84 after a life among paintbrushes. Sometimes he painted walls for work and sometimes he drew inspiration from a magazine about hearts to bolster his creativity.
To make Brasaola’s wish come true, Pérez also asked for help on social media.
A journalist by profession, he enlisted the help of his Vatican colleagues to get the long-awaited invitation from the Holy See. Once he received it, he and Brasaola’s family traveled to Rome together with the painting to greet Pope Francis.
“It’s a unique experience–an experience that cannot be described,” said Pérez. “My mother is blind and she told me yesterday, ‘I wish I could see the Pope’. Now, I have seen him. I saw him face to face for my mother. And that’s it. It’s a dream come true.”
In addition to the challenges of meeting with the Pope, both Pérez and Brasaola’s family paid for the trip and accommodations in Rome out of their own pockets, something that Perez feels has been worth it.
“Alberto wanted me to give this painting to the Pope,” Pérez said. “I believe that he would have been pleased with it ending up in the Basilica of Santa María de Lekeitio, but I know that it will be in the Casa de Santa Marta (where the Pope resides). I hope that when the Pope looks at this painting, it will tell him: Jorge María, take strength and go the distance. Because he told us to pray for him.
Apart from the painting, Perez also presented Pope Francis with tea and sweet biscuits that are common in Argentina.