Maryangel Espinal was stunned when her boyfriend, Dario Ramirez, dropped to his knee in front of the pontiff during a visit to the Vatican.
If this woman thought meeting the Pope couldn't get any more memorable, she was wrong.
Maryangel Espinal was stunned when her boyfriend, 32-year-old Dario Ramirez, dropped to his knee in front of the pontiff during a visit to the Vatican on Aug. 27.
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Ramirez, a human rights activist and Venezuelan exile who fled the Maduro regime in 2014, met the Pope and his staff during a reception for Catholic legislators.
“When we were introduced to the Holy Father, I explained the situation in Venezuela and the situation facing political prisoners,” Ramirez said in an interview with the National Catholic Register.
"I then said to the Pope: 'There’s a third thing I want to ask you.' I explained to the Holy Father that the woman next to me is the woman of my life. I met her in church, God put her in my life, and I want to propose to her. So I got down on one knee and asked."
Espinal was lost for words, prompting the Pope to ask, "He asked you to marry him, what do you say?”
A video recorded on Ramirez's phone shows the crowd cheering when Espinal finally said, "Yes, of course."
“The African delegates made the loudest noise, singing and cheering," Ramirez said.
They then received a blessing from the Pope.
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Ahead of the proposal, Ramirez had obtained permission to pop the question from a cardinal.
Still, it came as a surprise to Pope Francis and Espinal, who later said she thought her boyfriend was going to ask for a selfie, not her hand in marriage, the Associated Press reported.
Following the proposal, the couple, both devout Catholics who met 18 months ago in a church in Panama, headed to Paris to celebrate.
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