Pope Francis met on Wednesday with the parents of a US college student whose body was found in Rome's Tiber river this week, after apparently either being pushed or falling into the water less than 24 hours after arriving in Italy for summer classes.
A brief Holy See statement said Francis expressed to Beau Solomon's parents "feelings of deepest sympathy and compassion, and his closeness in prayer to the Lord for the young man who died so tragically." The Pope held the unscheduled, private encounter shortly before holding an audience with French pilgrims in a Vatican auditorium.
