He received the Pope's blessing by letter for his volunteer work with sick children, but it wasn't enough for him.
"I was happy with the letter but I would have preferred to meet Pope Francis in person".
Tommaso Lorenzini, 41 years old from Ruvo di Puglia (Bari) has a dream: to look the Pope in the eyes to receive a blessing.
"Even superheroes need the Holy Father's hand on their heads", he says as he adjusts the Spiderman costume that he wears to give a smile to the little patients in the oncology departments of Bari.
"Spiderman and I have been one for five years now", he smiles and explains: "I started playing like this, with my two children: they had a lot of fun. Then the coronavirus arrived, our lives stopped but not the suffering, especially of the little ones. A mother asked me to help her with her sick son and I didn't think twice: I approached them. Someone made a video that went viral and so I continued. Then I became a member of Agebeo, the association which is close to children suffering from oncological pathologies and so I moved from the street to the ward".
In the ward, Spiderman Tommaso surprises the little patients with the movements of a superhero.
"They are my strength," he adds.
He mostly goes to the hospital on Sundays because "I work in a nursery and it's difficult to fit in visits and travel", he says.
In the letter signed by the councilor for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State Monsignor Roberto Campisi and delivered to the Ruvo Spiderman we read that Pope Francis imparts "the desired apostolic blessing which he willingly extends to loved ones".
"I'm flattered but I would like to meet him in person and I hope that one day this wish can become reality", he concludes.
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