Syrian refugee athletes, 104-year-old WWII vet, ping pong executive meet with Pontiff
June 04, 2026
At the conclusion of his June 3 general audience, Pope Leo XIV met with seven Syrian refugee girls who left the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan to compete in a tae kwon do tournament in Rome.
The Pontiff met as well with an American World War II veteran who will turn 105 next week. The Vatican newspaper reported:
From the USA came a particularly touching moment at the conclusion of the audience: the meeting between Leo XIV and Max Gurney, a World War II veteran who will turn 105 on June 10th.
“A full 82 years ago, together with a group of American soldiers, we marched on foot from Cassino all the way up to Florence, liberating Italian territory from the Nazi-Fascists,” he recounts with remarkable lucidity and in perfect Italian, a skill, he notes, “learned thanks to my father, who was a linguist.” Gurney continues to fill his schedule with travel, dinners, meetings, adventures, and new encounters, “not least, of course, this meeting with the Holy Father.”
L’Osservatore Romano also reported that “at the close of the audience, Robert Blackwell, Jr.—founder and owner of Killerspin, a Chicago-based company that manufactures table tennis equipment—presented the Bishop of Rome with a white table tennis table, intended to encourage people to set aside their electronic devices and reconnect with one another through ‘mindful play.’“
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