Alejandra Pereyra was knitting when she received the most unexpected call of her life on Sunday.
"It's Pope Francis," the Pontiff said once she picked up the line.
She immediately started weeping, she told an Argentinian news service.
"With an angelic voice, he told me to be calm and that he was calling because he had read my letter and my story struck him," she said.
Pereyra wrote the Catholic leader a letter at the beginning of the month, detailing how law enforcement officials in Spanish city Cordoba abused her and her family, TIME reported.
Pope Francis said that he receives thousands of letters and emails a day, but that her story caught his eye in particular.
In her correspondence, she detailed the events leading up to her horrific rape:
I am mother to six biological children and have brought up six others, three of which have disabilities. One day, one of these children was playing with a ball on the sidewalk in front of our house, when a policeman came by and called out to him. He didn't get a response so the policeman took an Ithaca rifle and pointed it at the child's chin. I went to the courts in Rio Segundo and reported the incident. Since then, me and my family have been continually harassed by the police.
With all the pain I carry in my heart, dear Holy Father, I ask you for your help because after all the talk of rape, they finally did it. One night in September 2008, around midnight, a police car turned up at our house and a policeman who presented himself as police chief Sergio Braccamonte got out...he pointed a service pistol at my head and raped me.
Pope Francis is making noted attempts to restore the church, which has come under fire in the past few decades for sexual abuse and corruption.
Earlier this month, he visited families in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro during World Youth Day, TIME reported. He also called Stefano Cabizza, a 19-year-old engineering student, and blessed him, even requesting they operate on a first name basis.
Pereyra said that the Pope reaching out to her personally brought her peaceful feelings she hadn't experienced in a long time.
"He restored faith and peace in me and gave me strength to carry on fighting," she stated.
