While posing for photos at the Vatican on Wednesday, Pope Francis urged Italian Army officers to remove their Covid masks.
The photographs show Pope turning around and speaking to the Italian Army, urging them to remove their masks. The party then posed for photos at a meeting at the Vatican after removing the disguise.
The officers had arrived at the Vatican for the Pope’s weekly general audience at the Paul VI Hall on Wednesday.
It comes after the Pope was chastised in 2020 for not wearing a face mask at the time of the coronavirus outbreak, and for only wearing one for the first time in October, seven months later.
During the Wednesday audience, Pope Francis reminded people all over the globe to remember Ukrainians who were hiding in subterranean shelters to avoid being bombed, and thanked Poland for taking in the majority of war refugees.
On Ash Wednesday, which Pope has named a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine, Francis addressed at his weekly general audience.
After speaking to Poles, the Pope went off script to explain that Father Marek Viktor Gongalo, the Polish interpreter on stage with him, is Ukrainian.
‘His parents are now in underground shelters to protect themselves from the bombs in a place near Kyiv,’ the pope said.
‘By accompanying him, we accompany all the people who are suffering from the bombings, including his elderly parents and so many other elderly who are in underground shelters defending themselves. Let us remember these people in our hearts.’