The Swiss Guards and Vatican gendarmes stood by Wednesday and gamely let 6-year-old Wenzel Wirth run around Pope Francis.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis praised the freedom — albeit « undisciplined » — of a disabled child who climbed onto the stage Wednesday to play during the pontiff’s general audience.
The Swiss Guards and Vatican gendarmes stood by Wednesday and gamely let 6-year-old Wenzel Wirth run around Francis as monsignors read out his catechism lesson in various languages in the Vatican audience hall.
At one point, the boy’s Argentine-Italian mother came on stage to fetch him and explained to Francis that he couldn’t speak. Francis told her « Let him be, let him be » and the mother retreated and let Wenzel continue to play.
