The Masciantonio family recently had an experience they will never forget when their baby daughter met Pope Francis when he visited Philadelphia.

It was a simple stroke of luck that the Masciantonios were called by family friend Donny Asper, an FBI agent who was helping with security for the pope’s visit. When he told them to get downtown as quickly as possible, the Masciantonios did not hesitate to get down there.

Donny knew that it was important to Joey and Kristen Masciantonio that their daughter Gianna meet the pope. As devout Catholics, Joey and Kristen hoped that meeting the pope could help Gianna, who has an extremely rare blood disorder and a tumor. With such large crowds trying to catch a glimpse of the pope that day, however, the family never expected Gianna to actually have a chance to come face to face with him.

They feared that the size of the crowds would cause Gianna’s already weak immune system to deteriorate even more, but they made the decision to go anyway, and they’re sure glad they did now!

As they saw the pope start to make his way passed them outside the historic James S. Byrne Courthouse, Joey lifted Gianna as high as he could in the hopes of getting the attention of the security detail. One member of security saw her and picked Gianna up to carry her over to the pope. It was then that the pope planted a kiss on Gianna’s head, much to the delight of her parents!

Afterwards, the family went back to their normal routine, but they ended up getting the shock of their lives six weeks later, when doctors told them that Gianna’s tumor had significantly shrunk! Joey and Kristen are sure that it was the pope’s kiss that improved their little girl’s health.

“The kiss was God’s work, that’s for sure,” the happy couple said.

Find out more about this miracle in the video below, and SHARE this story so your friends and family can see it as well!