GERMANY: Maria Rice from Salthill has a message from Pope Benedict: he blesses the people of Ireland and thinks the Taoiseach is a "very good man".
The 21-year-old was one of just a handful chosen from half a million young people to meet Pope Benedict XVI as he cruised into Cologne on Thursday for World Youth Day. "It was an absolutely fantastic experience. He's the closest thing you can get to heaven," said Maria last night.
Maria was part of a group of 30 Galwegians allowed onto the papal boat. While the rest sat in the rear, Maria sat directly at the Pope's feet, with a perfect view of his holiness - and his red slippers - for most of the cruise down the Rhine.
"I got emotional and cried when he came on the boat, but he had an amazing calming and peaceful effect that kind of rubbed off on the whole boat and soon everyone was smiling," she said.
Then came the big moment, her private moment with the Pope.
"It was overwhelming. I couldn't really talk to him. I had so much I wanted to say but I couldn't say anything," she said. "Then he asked me in English where I was from and he said he had met Bertie Ahern and thought he was a very good man.
"Then he blessed me and said through me he blessed the people of Ireland," said Maria.
After their talk, she returned to her place at his feet, in front of the television cameras.
She brought Pope Benedict a gift of a Celtic cross, but in the rush to leave the boat the gift was left behind on the boat.
"I hope I can give it to him at the open-air Mass on Sunday," she said, saying she was still coming down from the experience yesterday.
"I don't think it's hit me, perhaps when I go home."
Maria Ó hAodh, from outside Galway, was also on the boat.
"We were at the back, but he came round to see us. There was a fantastic atmosphere," she said.
"He was very calm but even as we got closer to the cathedral he seemed kind of overwhelmed and filled with awe," she said. "He looked really well, very energetic."
Meanwhile, papal enthusiasts will be pleased to hear that Pope Benedict's cap - the zucchetto - has been found.
Uwe Hoffmann, a 40-year-old airport worker, attached stairs to the Alitalia aircraft on Thursday and was standing at the bottom of them when a gust of wind whipped the zucchetto off the Pope's head as he emerged.
"I don't know what happened but suddenly I had his cap in my hand," he told Cologne's Express newspaper. Within two minutes, however, a member of the papal staff retrieved what could have overtaken pope lollipops, pope beer and even pope underwear to become the ultimate Pope Benedict souvenir.