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.
