ROME — Pope Francis met privately Thursday with a Sudanese woman who refused to recant her Christian faith in the face of a death sentence, blessing the woman as she cradled her infant daughter born just weeks ago in prison.
The Vatican characterized the visit with Meriam Ibrahim, 27, her husband and their two small children as “very affectionate.”
The 30-minute encounter took place hours after the family landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport, accompanied by an Italian diplomat who helped negotiate her release. Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim but whose mother was an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia, was sentenced to death over charges of apostasy. Sudan’s high court threw out her death sentence in June.
Ibrahim and her family are expected to spend a few days in Rome before heading to the United States, where her husband is a citizen. Ibrahim’s husband had lived in New Hampshire.
![[prison 19] Caption: This is Cellhouse 1, Pod A, from ground level inside the Sterling Correctional Facility which is located outside of Sterling, Colorado Thursday afternoon. Photographer: LEW SHERMAN Title: FREELANCE Credit: SPECIAL TO THE POST City: Sterling State: CO Country: USA Date: 19990617 ObjectName: prison 19 Keyword: PUBDATE____1999_06_22](/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20151207__denverpostp1.jpg?w=538 "20151207__denverpost~p1.jpg")
