Newlyweds Tim Tebow, Demi Nel-Peters meet Pope Francis after first Night to Shine event in Rome
Tim Tebow and his new bride, former Miss Universe Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, were in Rome this week celebrating the city’s first-ever Night to Shine event and were invited to meet Pope Francis.
Night to Shine is sponsored by The Tim Tebow Foundation and aims to help people with special needs, ages 14 and up, experience prom. The couple posted several videos of the event while celebrating the special needs community of the capital of Italy.
"We're so excited to be part of the first Night to Shine in Rome,” Tebow is heard saying to the crowd on Instagram story.
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“It's a night where the church gets to shine, it's a night where people with special needs get to shine, but more than anything it's a night where God gets to shine,” he declared.
Nel-Peters took to Instagram after the event with a photo of the couple showing Pope Francis all the footage from the event.
“Shared the beautiful highlights from last night’s first-ever #NightToShine in Rome with Pope Francis,” she wrote.
Tebow didn’t share much about the meeting with the pontiff but did post a video saying he was excited to get to meet him.
"We get to meet the pope so we get to do that and then we're gonna take off and fly to another location for the next part of Night to Shine,” Tebow shared on an Instagram story.
In addition to Rome and cities across the U.S., proms are held in Peru, New Zealand, Albania, Kenya, and South Africa, among others.
According to the Night to Shine website, the worldwide celebration is hosted by volunteers "in more than 375 host churches in 50 states, several different countries on six continents and in 28 different denominations."
In the footage posted of the event in Rome, prom attendees, volunteers and even priests are seen dancing and enjoying the ball. Every guest of Night to Shine entered their prom on a red carpet, greeted by friendly paparazzi for their unforgettable night.
According to the format of past events, once inside guests have access to hair, makeup, and shoe shining stations. They receive corsages and boutonnieres and there’s lots of dancing.
Additional footage shows the former Florida Heisman Trophy winner naming every guest of honor the kings and queens of the prom as they were crowned.
The Tim Tebow Foundation contributes more than $3 million in financial grants to assist churches in hosting Night to Shine in their communities.
