Chapecoense crash survivors received by Pope Francis

Pope Francis poses with members of the Brazilian Chapecoense soccer team at the end of his weekly general audience, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. Chapecoense will play AS Roma on Thursday in a charity match to raise funds for the team following last year's plane crash in Colombia where only three of 77 players on board survived. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Pope Francis poses with members of the Brazilian Chapecoense soccer team at the end of his weekly general audience, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. Chapecoense will play AS Roma on Thursday in a charity match to raise funds for the team following last year's plane crash in Colombia where only three of 77 players on board survived. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

By Associated Press August 30, 2017 1 min read

VATICAN CITY (AP) – The Brazilian soccer club that was devastated by an airplane crash in the mountains of Colombia last year has met with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

Francis gave Chapecoense a special welcome in his remarks and posed for pictures with the team at the end of his weekly general audience on Wednesday.

When the team’s flight went down in Colombia in November, all but six of the 77 players, officials and journalists on board were killed.

Three players survived the crash and two of them, Jackson Follmann and Alan Ruschel, were among those at the Vatican.

Follmann had part of his right leg amputated from injuries in the crash.