At the very first meeting, I remember saying to him that I thought he was sent by God to heal the relationship between Catholics and Jews.

I remember him saying -- he reached out his hand and said, 'If I stretch my hand, will a hand come to meet me?' He wondered if Jews would come, if Holocaust survivors would come, whether the mistrust that existed would dissolve enough for people to come in an attempt to reconcile.

I'm saying look, here they come, pay attention. Let your eyes transform what appears ordinary, commonplace, into what it is, a moment in time, an observed fragment of eternity.

The relationship found its rhythm. He began to rely on me for ideas of where music could express ideas that he wanted to achieve.

I would go into synagogues and talk to people before that concert and they would say, 'Oh, the pope and the Catholic Church -- you know what they did to us at the Holocaust and ... after that concert -- Wow. I would go out after that concert and people were astonished.

I believe he was able to soothe her. She actually became more devoted to Judaism ... and more comfortable, and also the pain in her eased.