BRAINTREE -- With her soft wispy hair and pink dress covered in white polka dots, Therese Giard has become an international media sensation overnight. She's none the wiser.

Seven-month-old Therese, the youngest daughter of Aaron and Diana Giard of Haverhill, was blessed by Pope Leo XIV before his inaugural Mass at St. Peter's Basilica on May 18. Photos of the pope blessing Therese were printed in newspapers throughout Rome and featured on the local news back in Massachusetts. Therese is crying in the photo, but Aaron Giard told The Pilot that she was content during the rest of her time in Rome.

"She wasn't happy," he said, "but that's because she was in the middle of nursing and we were like 'No, you have to meet the pope.'"

Aaron Giard is director of Lifelong Faith Formation for the Holy Redeemer Immaculate Conception Collaborative, which serves the Catholics of Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury. He and Diana have four other children: Nine-year-old Ethan, seven-year-old Abigail, five-year-old Elijah, and two-year-old Isaiah (Aaron calls him "the other prophet.") The chain of events that brought them to Rome and led to the pope holding and blessing their baby, happened on a whim. Diana Giard called it an example of God's "reckless love."

"All I could do was praise the Lord," she said. "I was like, 'You are so good.' The lavish love is what I think of, of the Lord pouring forth."

On May 11, a friend texted the Giards a photo of Pope St. John Paul II kissing a baby. The friend, who is married with five young children, suggested that the two families go to Rome together to see the inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV, and possibly have their babies blessed by him. There would only be a week to plan the trip. Dropping everything at the last minute to visit Rome and see the pope? Aaron Giard thought it was a joke.

"She said that they were serious and they were just going to track down some passports for the kids," he said.

Soon, the Giards were in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to get their kids' passports. They received financial aid from friends to fund the journey, which Aaron Giard called "miraculous." They landed in Rome on May 16, and later met a priest and a nun who told them how to get a good spot in St. Peter's Square. Their advice: Get there early. The Giards arrived at 7:15 a.m. on May 18. Almost 200,000 people would join them to see the new pope. They found a relatively secluded area by the Vatican Obelisk, right up against the fence that the popemobile would drive past. They prayed the rosary as Pope Leo XIV made his way through the square.

"That was moving by itself," Aaron said.

The pope's guards ended up stopping the popemobile right in front of the Giards. Diana Giard held Therese up to the pope, and the baby was brought to him for a blessing.

"Our baby made it into a lot of the headlines, and we think it's because her dress was more colorful," Aaron said.

He described his family as relatively private. He and Diana don't post pictures of their kids on social media. Now, however, Therese was visible to millions around the world.

"Because this was such a blessing for our family and our extended family and our church community, we felt that it was a great honor," he said.

He felt connected to the hundreds of thousands of people who had come from all over the world to be united in faith. Pope Leo XIV, he said, represents the unity of the global church.

"There is a presence and a gentleness to him, prayerfulness to him that I could certainly sense, being there," he said.

Diana was laughing in joyous disbelief as Pope Leo XIV held her daughter.

"In the real-time, present moment, I was thinking 'Oh my goodness, you're so amazing, Lord!'" she said.

She hopes that "people see the light of Christ" from media coverage of Therese being blessed.

"The way that Pope Leo looked at the babies, his clear presence and prayerfulness," she said. "That's what my hope is, that as people are asking about our experience, what was so proud was the joy I felt after and during the Mass."

She said the inauguration Mass was like seeing a glimpse of Heaven.

"Mass was beautiful," Aaron said.

He and Diana asked their older children what they thought of Rome, and all of them said their favorite part was Therese being blessed by the pope. Aaron thinks they're still too young to understand how "improbable" it was, but suspects that they will have a closeness to Pope Leo XIV when they're older.

"What means the most to us is, of course, our faith and our love for the Holy Father," he said.

He added: "We have a great affection for him already, and we've been praying for him. It was a great joy for him to bless our baby."