The parents of four-year-old Madeleine McCann, who disappeared during a family vacation in Portugal on May 3, visited the Vatican today and met with Pope Benedict XVI.
Kate and Gerry McCann, both devout Catholics, shook hands with the Pope as he made his way through a large crowd at the end of his general audience in St. Peter's Square.
Then they handed the Pontiff a picture of their daughter.
"The Pope put his hand on the photo, he blessed the photo and then spoke to the parents for a few minutes," Vatican Affairs Correspondent Gerry O'Connell told Â鶹´«Ã½net Wednesday.
Kate, carrying a pink, fluffy toy cat belonging to her missing daughter, appeared to be holding back tears during the brief encounter. Madeleine's father kissed the Pope's hands.
"You could see from their faces they were really torn with sorrow, they were appealing to the Pope," O'Connell said from Rome.
Before the encounter, Madeleine's parents said they hoped to draw strength from their meeting as well as to help keep the campaign to find their daughter in the media spotlight.
"We have mixed emotions about being here," Madeleine's father, Gerry, told reporters as he and his wife arrived to attend the Pope's general audience.
"Under normal circumstances it would be one of the most exciting things we could do in our own lifetime, but very much on our minds is the fact that we're here without Madeleine."
Madeleine vanished after her parents left her, and her brother and sister -- both aged 2 -- alone while they went to a nearby restaurant within their hotel complex in the Algarve.
British media have reported $2.6 million pounds (Cdn$6.1 million dollars) has been contributed to a reward fund from citizens and celebrities such as J.K. Rowling and Sir Richard Branson.
The McCanns said they would not return to the U.K. until their daughter was found.
They are set to return to southern Portugal later Wednesday and are also planning trips to Madrid on Friday and Berlin on June 4.
