4 The Queens Courier • development • july 17, 2014 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com development Photo following Honoring (Mayor and Town Council). Mr. Mattone with town character Garibaldi. granted, and the group secured a meeting with Pope Francis. As an acknowledgement for the significant contributions that Mattone has made to St. John’s and the Queens community, he and his wife had the chance to present the Pope with a very special gift that they brought with them from New York. “Overall the experience of meeting the pope was a very nice personal recognition for me and my wife,” says Mattone. “We’re very connected with our Italian heritage and the Italian culture, so we were honored to have this opportunity.” The fact that their trip to the Vatican fell during the height of World Cup fever was not lost on Saint John›s School of Law dean Michael Simons. To break the ice with the Argentine-born pontiff, Mary Ann Mattone assisted Dean Simons in presenting Pope Francis a jersey emblazoned with the number 10, which represents international soccer star Lionel Messi. But instead of bearing Messi’s name on the back of the shirt, the pope›s version said, “Pope Francis”. “He thought it was very funny, and he just kept laughing,” recalls Mattone. “He really hit it off with Mary Ann, so I told her that she should be the one to hand him a gift that we brought for him, which was a book, authored by Susan Zuccotti titled Pere Marie-Benoit and the Jewish Rescue. The book recounts the story of an Italian priest who saved thousands of Jews during the war by providing them with false papers to escape capture. According to Mattone, he was introduced to Zuccotti’s book by Jewish author Doris Schechter. When Schechter was a young child growing up in Vienna during World War II, she was faced with great religious discrimination. Schechter’s father made great efforts to get the family out of Austria so they could have a better life. The only country willing to take the family in at the time was Italy. “Doris remembers how kind the Italians were to her,” explains Mattone. “Even in the height of the Nazi Holocaust, she was treated beautifully and without discrimination.” In presenting Zuccotti’s book and sharing Schechter’s history, we weren’t asking for anything from the pope. We just wanted him to know this special story.” In addition, both Schechter and Mattone wrote personal letters for Pope Francis, which were enclosed in the book. Mattone says that the book was very well-received by the pontiff, and notes that he carried on the conversation in English. “Although my wife was the one who handed him the book, I did get to have a few words of my own with Pope Francis,” says Mattone. “I told him what a great job I think he is doing.” Following the trip to the Vatican, the Mattones continued on to visit the town of Salento in the province of Salerno, where Mattone’s ancestors came from. On June 25, Much to Mattone’s surprise, he (continued from cover) Mayor, Mr. Loreto D’ Aiuto, Roseanna D’Aiuto, Joseph and Mary Ann Mattone & Mrs. Katrina D’Aiuto.
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