 In 2010 he was diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis and given six months to live.In what Blech considers a gift from God, he survived.In January 2005, Blech, along with Rabbis Barry Dov Schwartz and Jack Bemporad, became the first rabbis in history to publicly confer a blessing on a pope, when they were invited by the Vatican to visit and bless Pope John Paul II at Clementine Hall in the Apostolic Palace.