Family meets Pope Francis after 21,000 km road trip from Argentina

Pope Francis met Sunday with a family who drove nearly 21,000 kilometres to see him, travelling from Argentina to Philadelphia in an old Volkswagen van over 194 days.

Francis spent time with fellow Argentines Catire Walker and Noel Zemborain and their four children, talking about their visit and praying.

• Pope urges world to protect the vulnerable during U.S. trip
• End hostility to immigrants, Pope tells U.S. Congress
• Pope delivers outdoor mass to more than 1M followers

Zemborain told the Associated Press that Francis told her that they were crazy to drive so far with their children. She said it was like meeting an old friend and Francis hugged the children.

'Like being with an old friend'

"We couldn't believe it. They called us this morning (and) we were like in shock," she said after Sunday night's mass in Philadelphia. "It is like being with an old friend. He was so warm. He told us we were crazy. He made jokes.

"The children got to hug him a lot. They couldn't leave him. Not at all protocol, not at all formal, it was like being with a friend."

Walker and Zemborain quit their jobs in food service and marketing to lead their children on the unforgettable tour of the Americas, using savings and soliciting donations to fund the trip to the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

Along the way they made 12 border crossings and stayed with dozens of host families, did lots of sightseeing and documented the trip online. They schooled their children Cala, 12; Dimas, 8; Mia, 5; and Carmin, 3 with the help of a distance learning program.

"I think this kind of meeting shares the same spirit we want our journey to have to meet other families, to know other families," Zemborain told The Associated Press last week. "The (World Meeting) slogan is 'The Family Fully Alive,' and that's how we feel as a family."

The family said they got a call at 6 a.m. Sunday that Francis wanted to meet with them at the Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, where he stayed this weekend. The Pope told the family he had been following their trip, they wrote in a Facebook post.

Zemborain, Walker and the kids plan to continue travelling until November.

Francis celebrated a mass on Sunday that organizers estimated drew hundreds of thousands to downtown Philadelphia, before flying back to Rome at the end of the six-day U.S. tour.