The parents of four-year-old Madeleine McCann, who was abducted in Portugal four weeks ago, shed tears today on a trip to meet the Pope and raise the profile of their daughter's case.
Gerry and Kate McCann, who are devout Catholics, were given the honour of meeting Pope Benedict XVI during a General Audience at the Vatican.
Mrs McCann said later at a news conference at the residence of Britain's ambassador to the Holy See that the Pope had been "very kind and very sincere." Mr McCann, who is originally from Glasgow, said it had been important for them to meet him "for spiritual reasons."
They said the Pope told them he would pray for the safe return of Madeleine, who went missing while holidaying with her family in the Algarve earlier this month.
Mrs McCann gave a photograph of her daughter to the Pope during the meeting, which lasted just under 30 seconds.
She spoke to the Holy Father while her husband bowed and kissed his hand. The couple had struggled to control their emotions throughout the ceremony, which lasted more than an hour-and-a-half.
At one point, an English-speaking priest issued a prayer on behalf of the Pope and said: "In a special way his blessing goes to your children and your loved ones."
His words clearly moved the couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, who wiped back the tears with their heads bowed. For much of the general audience, Mrs McCann kept her eyes closed.
But she frequently looked down at the picture of Madeleine she was carrying - the portrait photograph which has been used in the main appeal and seen around the world.
Throughout the event, Mr McCann comforted his wife, slipping his arm around her waist and squeezing her shoulder.
A Catholic priest accompanying them also hugged and comforted her. Sitting behind them was the British ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Campbell, and their liaison officer, Clarence Mitchell.
The Pope looked grave as he listened to Mrs McCann speak about her daughter. He put his hand on her arm to comfort her.
The couple now plan to travel to Germany anmd the Netherlands to raise awareness of Madeleine's case there.
Madeleine disappeared on May 3 when her parents left her and her two-year-old twin brother and sister alone in their hotel room while they went to a restaurant in their hotel complex in Praia da Luz.
Read more on this in The Herald
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article