Little boy steals show from Pope Francis

A little boy interrupted Pope Francis while he was speaking during a rally in support of family life in St. Peter's Square. The pope smiled at the boy as he continued his speech in front of a crowd of thousands.  

|
AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano
In this photo, a young boy, no name available, hugs Pope Francis as he delivers his speech during an audience with families in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.

Pope Francis was delivering a homily but a little boy stole the show.

Francis was speaking in St. Peter's Square about the important role grandparents play when a little boy walked up behind him and confidently climbed up and sat down on the pontiff's white chair.

The Vatican says Francis was surrounded by elderly faithful and their grandchildren Saturday night at a rally to encourage family life when the boy came up, wearing a striped shirt, jeans and sneakers.

Acting like an indulgent grandpa, Francis let the boy explore the area undisturbed before tens of thousands of people. The pope smiled while reading his speech as the boy sat in the empty chair, gazed up at him and even at one point clung to the pontiff's legs.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Little boy steals show from Pope Francis
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1030/Little-boy-steals-show-from-Pope-Francis
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe