The Nicest Guy in the Vatican

A few years ago I was at an awards dinner in New York City.  From across the room I happened to see John Cardinal Foley, the longtime head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications.  Foley had just been named a cardinal (after many years of being, according to Vatican sources, "passed over") so I made a mental note to offer my congratulations.  The newly named cardinal had also been an occasional correspondent with me over the last few years, and his always welcome letters included chatty reminiscences about his time as a student at St. Joseph's Prep in our mutual hometown of Philadelphia, and his affectionate memories of various Jesuits he knew, but who he may not have seen in some time.  "Please greet..." he would write, and list his Jesuit friends.  (When named a bishop, the onetime Jesuit novice chose Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam as his episcopal motto.)  His first note came after reading one of my books; he was both gracious and generous and it started a correspondence that I very much enjoyed.  And over the years I never met anyone who didn't say, upon hearing his name, "What a nice guy!"  So that evening I definitely wanted to meet the man of whom so many were fond. 

But I was engaged in a long conversation at the time, and didn't want to be rude and simply end it.  Just a few seconds later, though, there was a tap on my shoulder.  "Father," said the smiling cardinal, "I've been wanting to meet you for a long time."  That was Cardinal Foley in a nutshell.  Where other higher-ups might wait for someone to come to them, John Foley thought nothing of tapping someone on the shoulder to say hello.