Oh, Adorable! Pope Francis Cuddles Infant in His Arms at Audience

His Holiness models the message of his weekly audience

At his weekly audience, Pope Francis began a new catechesis on the mystery of mercy and how it manifests, saying,

The Lord is “merciful.” This word evokes an attitude of tenderness, like that of a mother toward a child. In fact, the Hebrew word used by the Bible makes one think of the bowels or even the maternal womb. Therefore, the image it evokes is one of a God who is moved with pity for us, like a mother when she takes her child in her arms, wanting only to love, protect and help, ready to give everything, even herself. This is the image which this word evokes. Therefore, a love that can be called “visceral” in a good sense.

Perhaps with those words still moving within him, His Holiness briefly modeled his lesson, releasing himself from the bone-crushing hug of a toddler, in order to gently cuddle an infant for a few moments.

There is no evidence that he burst into a refrain of “Dormi, dormi, dormi,” but wouldn’t that have been great? We can always hope!