During an annual baptism event at the magnificent Sistine Chapel Sunday, Pope Francis appeared to encourage the mothers who were present to breastfeed their babies "without thinking twice."
Delivering an unusually brief and casual homily that centered on the 32 infants he was baptizing, the pope spoke affectionately of the children, as he urged their moms not to be intimated by their surroundings and to attend to their kids if the need arose.
"Today the choir will sing, but the most beautiful choir of all is the choir of the infants who will make a noise. Some will cry because they are not comfortable or because they are hungry," Francis said, according to Reuters. "If they are hungry, mothers, feed them, without thinking twice. Because they are the most important people here."
In an interview with La Stampa last month, Francis said moms should not be embarrassed about breastfeeding their babies in public.
When asked about the state of hungry children in the world, Francis related this story about a mom and her newborn to the Italian newspaper:
At the Wednesday General Audience the other day there was a young mother behind one of the barriers with a baby that was just a few month s old. The child was crying its eyes out as I came past. The mother was caressing it. I said to her: madam, I think the child’s hungry. “Yes, it’s probably time…” she replied. “Please give it something to eat!” I said. She was shy and didn’t want to breastfeed in public, while the Pope was passing. I wish to say the same to humanity: give people something to eat!