Photographer Nick Ut gave the Pope a photo

Photographer Nick Ut presented the photo “Napalm Baby” to the Pope on May 11 – Photo: AFP

Nick Ut said that the Pope immediately recognized Kim Phuc during a meeting at the Vatican on May 11. “He looked at the photo and immediately remembered her,” he told The Associated Press.

Kim Phuc said she wasn’t sure if the Pope would recognize her because he meets hundreds of people every day.

“But he remembers it very well. He said ‘I recognize you, I know you. Do you remember when we met in Buenos Aires?’ and I said ‘I remember,'” she recalled, referring to meeting the Pope when he was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina a few years ago.

Photographers Nick Ut and Ms. Kim Phuc are in Italy to organize an exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of taking the famous photo, June 8, 1972. They took advantage of the trip to meet and give the Pope a copy of the photograph.

Nick Ut is a former photojournalist of the AP News Agency. His name is associated with the photo “Napalm Baby” – recording the scene of a 9-year-old girl Kim Phuc naked while running and calling for help from a village bombed by US planes in Tay Ninh.

Photographer Nick Ut took this famous picture at the age of 21, outside Trang Bang village in Tay Ninh on June 8, 1972. After taking pictures, Mr. Nick Ut rushed to save Phuc – he had 3rd degree burns about 30% of his body due to the heat emitted from the napalm bomb up to 800 – 1,200 degrees Celsius.

The photo represents the brutality of the Vietnam War and earned photographer Nick Ut the Pulitzer Prize in 1972.