Matteo Renzi: “I am grateful that the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) took the time and the effort to reserve an hour so that we…”

“I am grateful that the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) took the time and the effort to reserve an hour so that we could take the time to pay tribute to a man who has given us so much, to celebrate his life and to lay out for the people of the world how much he truly sacrificed and gave. I had the honor to visit with him in Rome at Christmas of 2003. I accompanied a delegation of a couple of Congressmen who went over and who brought a House Resolution that signified and thanked him for 25 years of public service, of being that spiritual warrior that we all embraced. It was an honor to be with him. In his presence, you felt that holiness. You felt the holiness of a man of deep prayer, a man of hard work and conviction, a man who did not sway in the wind and who was not forced by modernization, by the tides of modern theology that we have seen. When I heard of his death, I was in Panama just a few days ago. I was fortunate to be with the large Latino population, one of the fastest-growing populations in the Catholic Church, who turned out and who truly mourned his death.”