during his pastoral visit in Naples, Italy. Photo: Reuters
Pope Francis was mobbed by a group of overexcited nuns who were let
out of their convents for his visit to Naples.
The nuns had to be reined in by the Archbishop of Naples after they
swarmed towards the Pontiff, to his evident bemusement, showering him
with gifts and greetings.
Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe could be heard through the microphone urging
restraint and making light-hearted commentary in a Neapolitan accent.
A nun takes a picture as Pope Francis arrives at the Naples' Duomo.
Photo: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters
"Sisters... Later... Well, would you look at that," he said.
"And these are the cloistered ones. Just imagine the non-cloistered
ones," he said, provoking laughter among the crowd gathered in the
cathedral.
"They are going to eat him!"
Cloistered nuns observe rules of "papal enclosure" and rarely leave
their nunneries, receiving visitors through a grill.
The Pope was holding an event in Naples cathedral to meet priests,
religious leaders and seminarians on his one-day visit to the city.
He also toured some of Naples' poorest, most crime-infested quarters,
the heartlands of the city's mafia.
Hundreds of thousands gathered in the streets to welcome him, but few
got as close as the group of nuns who had been given special
permission to leave seven different closed convents in Naples for the
Pope's cathedral visit.
Their exuberance, however, set the tone for Pope Francis's
off-the-cuff remarks on priestly life, in which he urged religious
leaders to live their convocation with joy and enthusiasm.
--Telegraph
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