Pope embraces sick man after general audience

(ANSA)- Vatican City, November 15 – Making his customary tour among the sick in St Peter’s Square after Wednesday’s general audience, Pope Francis warmly embraced a gravely ill man. Greeting the sick is a tradition among Catholic popes.

The embrace touched onlookers and was in keeping with his image as “the people’s pope”, shunning many of the luxuries of the papacy and often skirting his own bodyguards in order to mix with the faithful.