And when my brother turned eighteen, he seized the opportunity, as he’d already been pondering these things by that point. But of course, until then he wasn’t allowed to attend service or do anything more. He was already asking himself a lot of questions and… I followed him. I was fourteen but I followed him in his search. He gave Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, Evangelists and Jehovah’s Witnesses a try. And I followed him because… When I was twelve and a half, I almost drowned while on holiday and I had a near-death experience. A very intense experience that I still remember very, very well. And even though we hadn’t been educated about spirituality at all, and at the time, there was no Internet or anything, what happened to me left a deep impression in me. It was my brother, in fact, who saved me from drowning. When I told him about it, fresh from that experience, once we were on shore, he told me : don’t mention it. [laughs] Try not to talk about it cause people will think you’re insane.
So I was twelve and a half; I kept this for myself and I treasured it. Then, a few weeks later, I saw a religious TV program with the Pope in it. I was alone at home. And the Pope’s ceremonial robes looked somewhat familiar. I’d never been taught to pray, I had never done it until that day. But I really felt compelled to pray to God.
I locked myself up in the bathroom, and in front of the sink, I talked to God for the very first time. I got a very clear answer. It truly was just like conversing with someone, even though I had no religious background. I said: “God, I don’t know why, I feel drawn to you. I feel driven to talk to you, because I saw these clothes… And I don’t know what they mean. But I can’t help myself from talking to you.” And the answer was: “One day, you will meet my people, you will be given sacred clothes with sacred signs, including one in particular… and you will be forbidden to speak about it to someone else.” So I really treasured that. I didn’t quite know what it meant, and yet, I knew it was true.