April 25, 2025
Margaret Price ’25 treasures meeting Pope Francis, ‘who loved the suffering even as he suffered’
By Michael Hagan ’15, ’19G
Margaret Price ’25 has shaken hands with governors and diplomats, but meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican in May 2024 “was a handshake that felt like a hug.”
While studying abroad in Switzerland during her junior year, Price secured an internship with the Geneva office of the International Catholic Migration Commission. It included the opportunity to attend a conference in Rome on “Care is Work; Work is Care” — a theme on the dignity of labor developed in Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter, Laudato Si.
Price stood with about 70 conference delegates waiting to greet the pope personally. When the moment came, she was unsure what to say.
“What do I say? I don’t know Spanish. I don’t know Italian. He was 87 years old, and I did not want to overwhelm him. I walked up and reached out my hand. I felt like my mind went blank as he shook it gently. But I thought of one thing to say,” she said.
To Francis, Price simply said, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I was grateful for that moment. I was grateful for his life given to the church. I was grateful for his servant leadership,” Price said. “I was most grateful for the opportunity to simply thank him.”
The political science and global studies double major from South Glastonbury, Connecticut, will join the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest in Spokane, Washington, after graduation. During her time at PC, she was a cantor at Mass in St. Dominic Chapel, founded the college chapter of Catholic Relief Services, collected and distributed donations at a local food pantry, interned with the Rhode Island governor’s office, and discovered a skill for public speaking.
Staffing a global consultation at the Vatican was not part of the plan when she chose to study abroad during the second semester of her junior year. She chose the International Studies and Multilateral Diplomacy Program at the School for International Training in Geneva. Her desire to live in Switzerland was inspired by her mother, who told about attending the University of Fribourg as a PC student. Price’s mother, Maria Wolff Price ’94; her grandfather, Joseph Wolff ’67; and her aunt, Anne Wolff ’97, ’04G, all graduated from PC, too.
On the day of the meeting with Pope Francis, Price passed the parked Popemobile as she entered the Vatican early in the morning. Her anticipation piqued, she spoke quietly with other attendees. Suddenly, the double doors opened, and there he was.
Entering the final year of his life, Francis was physically weaker than before. In the frailty of his old age, Price experienced gentleness and humility.
“He humanized his role so much with tenderness, respect, and love,” Price said. “In that moment, the space felt like home.”
Price’s engagement with Pope Francis’ teachings on care for the poor, the marginalized, laborers, and creation as a common home — and their place in the broader tradition of Catholic Social Thought — deepened in her courses, including Catholic Social Thought with Rev. Albino Barrera, O.P., professor of economics and of theology, and Development of Western Civilization, commonly known as Civ. As a sophomore, she received the Rev. Paul van K. Thomson Award recognizing the best student to complete the Honors Development of Western Civilization Program.
“Civ informed my heart, my values, and my mind. It was a chance to ponder what I believe and what others believe,” she said.
Among the intellectual figures she encountered in Civ, a favorite was Simone Weil, the French philosopher, mystic, and activist whose solidarity with the poor and suffering inspired her.
“Simone Weil was willing to martyr herself for the poor. She suffered with them. In love, she went to the margins,” Price said. The call to “go to the margins” resounded in much of Pope Francis’ preaching.
Growing up, Price thought she would be an actress, a teacher, or an artist. But events during her high school years propelled her toward politics and public service. She was a junior when COVID-19 became a global pandemic and when the murder of George Floyd prompted protests across the country. She felt a call to action and a responsibility to be politically engaged because of her faith.
As an actress in school theatre since third grade, she was comfortable onstage. But when a class in Civ her freshman year required her to deliver one of Cicero’s orations to the class, she realized a love for public political speech. She had studied the orations in her high school Latin classes.
“I realized that I wanted to do this one day with words of my own,” she said. “I want to speak words that move people, that people remember, that motivate them.”
Price’s love of using her voice was expressed through her role as cantor at the 11 a.m. Mass in St. Dominic Chapel, where she used it help move the faithful to meditate on the liturgy and to adore Jesus in the eucharist.
Price’s prayer and worship is foundational to her service, and mercy is the work without which her worship is incomplete. She volunteered regularly during the fall semester of senior year collecting and distributing food at the St. Edward Food and Wellness Center in Providence. She also co-founded a chapter of Catholic Relief Services, which she built as an ecumenically oriented club for students of all faiths or none. In complement to direct community assistance offered by other campus clubs and ministries, the college CRS chapter focuses on education, awareness, and the cultivation of shared social ethics.
“We have Catholic members and non-Catholic members. We have members who are not religious. I wanted the club to reflect the pluralism of American society and demonstrate that we can share commitments to the poor and marginalized across differences in faith,” she said.
In her senior year, Price interned for Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee, working on environmental policy and sustainability-oriented community advocacy for the Litter-Free Rhode Island policy program. She studied policies, analyzed the impact of programs, and facilitated community conversations and engagement. In a project that drew on her love of drawing, she illustrated a narrative coloring book to teach children about the diverse ecosystems of Rhode Island and the importance of refraining from littering and disposing of refuse responsibly.
“I learned to compost and garden from my mom. We spent time in nature together, in the woods and by the shore. Students need to learn from a young age that caring for the environment and caring for each other go hand-in-hand,” Price said.
With the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, she will focus on the intersection of social and ecological justice at a youth and family resource center. She will manage a community garden and a food and hygiene pantry and will write grants to support initiatives to help disadvantaged and families facing food insecurity.
Inspired by her professors, her goal is to one day study for a doctorate in food policy, justice, and systems. With Father Barrera’s encouragement, she took on a year-long political science honors thesis comparing grassroots discourse on food policies in Rhode Island to international and national levels of policy discourse. As she closes her studies, she is grateful for intellectual formation in the Dominican tradition at PC.
“My mother, her sister, and their father at attended Providence College. Learning about the Honors Program, about Civ, about the community and its traditions — I knew I wanted this. My parents are both teachers. I could not be here without them and the St. Joseph Scholarship I was awarded,” Price said.
At PC, she has learned to appreciate what she calls “the sanctity of daily life” — savoring moments, places, hobbies, art, the humanities, and the company of friends.
“I’m a relationship-oriented person. I love people, our unique experiences and learning about each other face-to-face. And at the end of the day, my North Star will always be Jesus,” she said.
Price will be forever inspired by Pope Francis, whose death occurred weeks before her graduation.
“What gets me about his passing is that he totally overexerted himself in his last few months of life,” Price said. “He was careening after God even in his weakest to be the shepherd of the church, to love the suffering even as he was suffering. That’s what I want to do throughout every moment of my life. I can only hope my meager thank you can translate into carrying the torch he has passed to me, to all of us. I loved him like a grandfather, so I’ll miss him dearly, but I am so grateful that he finally rests.”
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