Pope Francis was surprised when a Venezuelan exile politician proposes to girlfriend in front of him

A Vanezuelan exiled politician surprised both Pope Francis and his girlfriend in a marriage proposal. Dario Ramirez, a local councillor who was forced to flee the regime of Nicolas Maduro three years ago, was part of the delegation of 80 legislators from around the world who had traveled to Rome to meet the Pope. He was introduced to the Pontiff along with his girlfriend, Maryangel Espinal.

Mr. Ramirez spent a few minutes chatting to the Argentinian pontiff about the political situation in Venezuela, before suddenly getting down on bended knee and proposing marriage to Ms Espinal.

“When we were introduced to the Holy Father, I explained the situation in Venezuela and the situation facing political prisoners,” Mr Ramirez told the National Catholic Register.

He said his girlfriend had no inkling of what was about to happen.

“I then said to the Pope: ‘There’s a third thing I want to ask you. I explained to the Holy Father that the woman next to me is the woman of my life. I met her in church, God put her in my life, and I want to propose to her. So I got down on one knee and asked.”

Ms Espinal was momentarily lost for words.

The Pope said: “He asked you to marry him, what do you say?” finally she managed to say “Yes, of course” and the couple received a blessing from the pontiff.

The proposal had in fact been carefully planned – Mr Ramirez obtained permission to pop the question from Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the patron of the International Catholic Legislators Network, which took part in the audience.

Despite the preparation, Pope Francis was apparently unaware of what was in store. “The Pope was very surprised,” Mr Ramirez said.

Source: telegraph