MLK’s Daughter, Bernice, Has Private Audience With Pope
Youngest child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. Bernice King is welcomed by Pope Francis on the occasion of their private audience, at the Vatican, Monday, March 12, 2018.
L'Osservatore Romano/ / Pool Photo via AP
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s surviving daughter had a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday.
The Rev. Bernice King presented the pontiff with the sixth volume of the civil rights leader’s published papers, subtitled “Advocate of the Social Gospel, September 1948-March 1963.”
The Vatican made public a video of the meeting. King spoke briefly through a translator, but no audio was provided. She tweeted after that the meeting was “#lifechanging.”
The 54-year-old King is the youngest child of Martin and Coretta Scott King. She was 5 years old when her father was assassinated. Her brothers, Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King are also still living, but their sister, Yolanda King, died in 2007. Now she is the chief executive officer of the King Center in Atlanta.
King was in Italy to receive an international prize recognizing women involved in nonviolence and peace initiatives. The award was organized by the Gandhi Center in Pisa and Italian pacifist Rocco Altieri.
Events are being planned in the United States to mark next month’s 50th anniversary of King’s assassination. He was shot on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
The King Center will hold six days of events. They include a cross-cultural act of kindness campaign, a peace prize award ceremony and a global bell ringing, starting at the King Center and the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.
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