ST. LOUIS – “For me personally, it was like when I was a kid and I would visit my grandfather, and you just knew that your grandfather loved you without a fault and just because he loved you, and that’s the feeling that I got,” FOX 2 Chief Meteorologist Glenn Zimmermann said. “I was in that grandfatherly, loving presence; that was pretty overwhelming.”

Six months after meeting Pope Francis while traveling in Italy, Glenn is still moved by the experience.

“The energy I felt was loving and welcoming, but being in his presence was just so much more than that. He radiated love, and he radiated joy,” Glenn said.

Francis was the first pope in more than 11 centuries to use a new papal name, honoring St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century friar known for his humility and simplicity. Glenn says it’s those qualities Pope Francis modeled even in the brief time they spent together.

“We got some pictures and then he sort of leaned into us and he said, ‘Please pray for me. My job is very hard.’ And it just made it like this personal request. It just drew me very close to him,” Glenn said.

Before they left, Pope Francis blessed rosaries and gave them to Glenn and his wife. That generous gesture now holds even greater meaning. While sightseeing the next day, Glenn and his wife noticed a crowd gathered outside St. Mary Major Basilica.

Pope Francis was inside praying the rosary. Their fluke find now feels like a divine discovery due to the significance of the site. Pope Francis will be buried in St. Mary Major Basilica, one of only seven popes laid to rest there and the first in more than a century who won’t be buried at St. Peter’s Basilica.

“There were a couple of instances where you just kind of do a reality check and go, ‘Wait a minute. Why am I here? What am I doing? What? How did this happen? What’s going on?’ And then you just let it all go, and you think I’m here for a reason, and the reason is that I’m supposed to go out and take this message of love to everyone else,” Glenn said.

“It changed me in a big way. I felt like I was charged with going out and, you know, being sort of missionary or an emissary for that goodness.”