How Pope Francis won over a Sikh riots survivor

On Sunday, the much loved and extremely popular Pope Francis left the United States after a six-day tour to return to Italy. The media faithfully covered every minute of his trip up to his last speech which he ended with, "God Bless America".

Before he boarded the plane at Philadelphia International Airport, he spoke briefly about his visit calling his time here "days of great grace", and recalled the high notes.

One particular moving moment for the Pope he said, in his speech, was the interfaith prayer meeting at the September 11 Memorial and Museum, which was "described as a journey of faith through the heart of New York."

In the small intimate meeting, there were a dozen leaders who were Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Greek Orthodox and Protestants, who offered prayers with the Pope. There were only 200 people in the room.

This was not one of the meetings that was captured in detail by the mainstream media, but it caught my attention for several reasons.

The choice of Ground Zero as a venue was significant as it is a place synonymous with death, destruction and pain. It's "that place," the Pope said, "which speaks so powerfully of the mystery of evil. Yet we know with certainty that evil never has the last word…" And he said he was "very moved to stand with his brothers and sisters of other religions..."

The Bishop of Rome, who has distinguished himself from his predecessors with his simplicity and humility sent very powerful messages throughout his visit.He talked bluntly about the abundance in America and pointed out that there was a lot of work to be done with the poor, immigrant and refugee communities. He met with victims of sexual abuse.

I agree on all these issues with the Pope, but he won my heart over with the interfaith meeting.

This prayer at Ground Zero will be a huge symbol of the Pope's condemnation of violence and his desire to include all faiths in the universal outreach to God.

One of the stories that came out of the meeting, which I found to be particularly heart-warming was the tale of three generations, touched by the Pope. There was a Sikh father, his daughter and her unborn child.

For the interfaith prayer, where the devout attendees were handpicked by their communities to be their leader, was a Sikh, Satpal Singh, who survived the 1984 Sikh riots. He was on a train when he was attacked by a blood thirsty mob, who beat him until he fell unconscious. Believing him to be dead, they turned to the others and he lay on the tracks, not moving.

He survived and shortly after, immigrated to the United States, where today, he is a professor at Buffalo School of Medicine.

In an editorial for The Washington Post, Singh shares that as he sat next to the Pope during this ceremony, he could not help but think to himself : "Never in my life could I have imagined I would be in this position."

And unknown to Singh, community leaders also picked his daughter Gunisha Kaur, an anaesthesiologist at Weill Cornell Medicine to participate in the ceremony and translate the services in English.

Kaur is an established advocate and Sikh leader who has lent her voice to human rights, gender violence and researched genocide cases in Punjab. She wrote a book "Lost in History: 1984 Reconstructed" about human rights abuses in Punjab. She has worked closely with non-profit organisations like Physicians for Human Rights.

Kaur said she has lived through many amazing moments in her life but being at this prayer meeting "was the most amazing thing ever".

"While waiting for the Pope, time moved very slowly but just before the Pope was about to walk in," Kaur said, she "felt a powerful force, it was the divinity of his presence. Time stood still after he came in."

As a New Yorker, as a Sikh, as an active community voice, Kaur and her husband Simran Jeet Singh, an assistant professor in the Department of Religion at Trinity College and a Senior Religious Fellow for the Sikh Coalition, have counselled and helped many Sikhs who were the victims of racial attacks after the 9/11 attacks. They also reached out to Muslim victims.

"The Pope's gesture of sharing the service with minority communities sends a powerful and significant message that faith, love and community will always prevail over hatred," Kaur said.

There was another unique aspect to the prayer meeting: Kaur was the only person in the room who had a special request of the Pope. More than four months pregnant, she asked if her unborn child could be blessed by him.

In a poignant moment, captured by husband Simran, Pope Francis puts his hand on Kaur's and blesses them."I cannot wait to share the picture with our child and talk of the memories of the day when we met the Pope, who was so real, so uplifting, so able to connect with us." she said emotionally.

A Pope who has successfully been able to win over all members of other faith is one who truly destined for greatness.

This is the Pope the world was waiting for. And while Our Holy Father blesses the world and says prayers for them, I say my own prayer of thankfulness and gratitude for all spiritual leaders, who can unite all faiths and keep them together. Even for a little while.