Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Monday that he briefly met Pope Francis just a month before he died, sharing a dinner with the Pontiff, who he described as “shy” and quiet.
Napolitano told “Wake Up America” that he was invited to speak along with a group of scholars at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences about a paper on natural rights and natural law.
“We each spoke for about a half an hour, and then the other academics in the group interrogated us. This went on for about four days,” Napolitano said, adding that during this time, he was invited to stay in the Pope’s guesthouse “and … dined in his dining room. And in two of those dinner meetings, [Pope Francis] was there. Now, there were 25 of us. There were eight at each table.”
Napolitano previously recounted this evening in an essay published in March, about one week after his trip to the Vatican.
The former judge noted that the Pope “sat at his own table” but was otherwise quite close.
“He was very shy. He really didn’t say anything. Not like [the late Pope] John Paul II, who would have gone around probably and said hello to everybody. When we arrived, the Swiss Guard said, ‘Don’t call him by name, don’t touch him, and for heaven’s sakes, don’t take a selfie.’ “
He added, “Two days later, I turn around in the hallway of the guesthouse and there he is, alone. And it’s just the two of us. And I’m looking in his eyes … and I’m thinking, ‘They said, don’t say hello to him. What am I going to say?’ “
Napolitano recounted that he said, “‘ Your Holiness,’ and he just looked at me and got in an elevator and left. So those were my two very brief and quite memorable encounters with him.”
GET TODAY :
is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the channel on your cable system –
Sign up for and get , our streaming channel and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight’s special series and President Trump’s comedy programs and much more!
Watch on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch anytime, anywhere!
Start your now:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
