Pope Francis’s Christmas gift to a grieving photographer

I had to learn to navigate the Vatican. Journalists deluge the Holy See’s communications offices with petitions for access. Success is limited; photographers are generally kept far from the pontiff. To aid my cause, I recruited Editor in Chief Susan Goldberg, as well as all three U.S. ambassadors in Rome—the ambassadors to Italy, the Holy See, and the UN agencies located there—for a lunch with Vatican officials. My petition was granted, but that proved to be only the first step in a months-long process.