MILA STAMENOVA

“When I was serving as an advisor to the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, I found myself organizing one of the most complex diplomatic visits the country had ever hosted—the official visit of Pope Francis to Skopje.

For nearly a year, our team worked closely with the Vatican. Delegations traveled between Skopje and Rome, planning every detail—from security and protocol to routes, staging, and media coordination. Every step had to be choreographed with surgical precision.

On the day of the visit, the Pope was scheduled to ride a small electric cart through the crowds to the main square for Mass. Everything was ready—except the second cart for our filming crew never arrived. The only solution was to place the cameraman on the Pope’s cart, blocking the driver’s view. So, I stepped in front of the cart and guided it through the crowd, walking ahead of the Pope for those ten long minutes. It was a logistical and security nightmare that somehow unfolded perfectly.

That evening, a member of the Vatican team told me: ‘There are countries where we expect perfect organization. And there are countries where we expect nothing at all. You were in the second group—but performed as if you belonged in the first.’”