County native who met Pope Francis remembers him as extraordinary, yet humble
Robert Moses, a Butler County native who had a private audience with Pope Francis in 2015, remembers him as a man so humble he asked Moses to pray for him.
“It’s interesting, because in subsequent days, I’ve heard a lot of people tell the same story that when they met him, he asked for their prayers,” Moses said. “He wasn’t this kind of high and mighty guy, even though he was the leader of 1.3 billion Catholics.”
Moses, 40, was born in Butler County and is the nephew of Tim and Larry Moses of Moses Jewelers. He moved to New Jersey at a young age with his father, Tom Moses, an executive vice president and chief laboratory research officer at the Gemological Institute of America.
In August 2011, Moses became a TV reporter for Fox 5 New York. He met the pope on Sept. 25, 2015, during a Mass at Madison Square Garden.
Moses was invited to the Mass by silversmith Adrian Pallarols, an Argentine and longtime friend of the pontiff, after Moses covered the story of how Pallarols created the chalice used by the pope during that Sunday’s Mass at the Garden. The chalice was created using silver jewelry donated by people from across the country.
“Adrian introduced me to him and told him who I was,” Moses said. “I think of the millions of people that he’s met through the years, but he made me feel like he was just talking to me in this sea of people.”
Moses said he was raised Presbyterian by his mom, but regularly attended Catholic mass with his dad. Regardless, meeting the pope was a moment that “reinforced” his faith in a higher power.
“The most powerful thing for me was that Catholics believe he’s the closest person on Earth to God, but at the same time he seems so ordinary,” he said. “I think his humility was what I took from that.”
Moses recounted working on Monday, April 21, when the Vatican announced Francis’ death. Since then, his work at Fox 5 New York put him in touch with Archbishop Timothy Dolan.
“One of the things that Dolan said to us is that when the pope died, he heard from a lot of his Jewish friends. So I think the sadness transcends background. I don’t think it’s just among Catholics. It’s everybody.”
Moses said he felt a particularly strong sadness himself, partially rooted in the loss of a pope that had the common touch. He hopes the next pontiff will share that trait with Francis.
“He fought for the people who don’t have a voice,” Moses said. “I hope the next pope does the same thing, because whatever your politics are, I think he just looked past that and was just trying to make sure the voiceless had a voice.”
