Teen receives note from pope after sending letter in Italian

It’s not too often you hear of people sitting down to handwrite a letter these days.

But that’s exactly what 17-year-old Antonio Mancino did this past June, and in Italian no less.

The recipient? Pope Leo XIV.

Mancino, a member of the Catholic Community of Christ Our Light’s youth ministry in Cherry Hill, wrote the letter following the pontiff’s election as the 267th Bishop of Rome.

“I expressed my enthusiasm and hope for his papacy and how I admire and look up to him, and how I want to join him on the duty to do good,” he recalled, adding that he also shared the work of his parish ministry.

Earlier this month, while planting a persimmon tree with his father in the family’s front yard, he received a letter of his own.

“My sister [Alessandra] comes running out of the house with a letter, screaming, ‘It’s the Vatican! It’s the Vatican!’” Mancino said.

The response from Pope Leo, translated from Italian, read, “The Holy Father has received your letter with immense joy. He thanks you, and is encouraging you to continue on the path of faith to become a pleased witness of the Gospel of Christ.”

In that moment, “I felt like something new had been born, and I felt a renewed hope,” Mancino remembered.

Ever since his Confirmation in the eighth grade, Mancino has felt a calling “to bring good to others, to support my community, and bring joy and compassion to others.”

To that end, he’s been a mentor to the younger youth group members on their faith journey and, with the greater parish community, helps in Christ Our Light’s sandwich-making ministry to feed the homeless.

“Antonio is that voice that invites students to take part in serving others,” said Sherine Green, the parish’s director of Youth Faith Formation. “He’s always present for the Church, with a servant heart.”

When Mancino shared the Pope’s correspondence at a recent youth ministry gathering, “We were all rejoicing,” she continued.

Through the young man, Green said, “Pope Leo is giving us that hopefulness, speaking to us, and letting us know that we’re all connected, and we need to take care of each other.”

Mancino’s mother, Rita Lubrano Lobianco – a native of Italy – helped her son fine-tune his letter to the pontiff.

“I always teach my children to pray, and to remember every day the little things you can think of, for others,” she said. “I’m very proud of him.”

Mancino hopes this is not only the validation of his good works, but the start of a continued correspondence, a bridge of faith across the Atlantic Ocean, 4,500 miles apart.

“I’m already thinking about my next letter to Pope Leo,” he said.