A Westmeath woman is celebrating the 25th anniversary of her famous encounter with Pope John Paul II during his visit to Ireland.
Ms Carmel O'Brien (42), Rossmore, Moate, was 17-years-old when she had an unexpected meeting with the Pontiff.
Carmel had made the early-morning trek on September 30th, 1979, to Clonmacnoise in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Pope who was visiting the ruins of the ancient monastic site.
But she caused a major security alert when the Pontiff beckoned her to his helicopter seconds before taking off from Clonmacnoise.
Carmel responded, jumping off her perch on a nearby wall and rushing to the helicopter before gardaí could react, and the Pope told his security personnel to relax restrictions.
"I stood outside the helicopter and reached in to the Pope. He placed his hand on my head and gave me his blessing. He kissed a cross I was wearing," said Carmel yesterday.
"My friends said the Pope was just waving at us, but I am sure to this day that he called me."
For weeks after, Carmel was inundated with callers to the Grand Hotel in Moate, where she was working after completing her Leaving Cert. People wanted to touch the woman who had touched the Pope, but it was another gathering at the Grand Hotel that really entertained her.
"A few weeks later, the gardaí held a big meeting to review security during the Pope's visit. I was serving tea and coffee at this meeting, and they were talking about me and how I had got through to meet the Pope. None of them realised I was the one serving the tea and coffee!," she said.
She was interviewed on a number of television and radio shows at the time.
"Cardinal Tomás O'Fiaich came to Moate to meet me and have lunch with me afterwards. He wanted to know what made me do it," she said.
Carmel has spent many of the last 25 years in Holland where she has seen a different response to a Papal visit.
"I went to see the Pope when he came to Holland in the early 1980s, and I couldn't believe how bad a reception he got," she said. "People turned their backs on him, others booed him."
Dutch television company Tros TV recently brought Carmel back to Holland to recall her meeting with the Pope in a programme detailing breaches of security surrounding the head of the Catholic Church.