Pope Francis Encourages Mothers to Breastfeed Babies During Baptism in Sistine Chapel

Pope Francis encouraged mothers to breastfeed the babies in the Sistine Chapel. On Sunday, the Supreme Pontiff baptised 33 infants in the chapel, and made the mothers feel at ease in feeding their children under Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes when some of them needed nourishment immediately.

The 78-year-old Catholic leader, whose real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio, assured the mothers they were not at risk of facing judgment for nursing their babies during the ceremony. In fact, he temporarily stopped reading his prepared text to tell the mothers that it’s okay, encouraged even, to feed their children. There were 20 girls and 13 boys in the chapel awaiting the holy sacrament.

“You mothers give your children milk and even now, if they cry because they are hungry, breastfeed them, don’t worry,” Pope Francis has been quoted as saying. He also changed the phrase of his written homily “give them milk” to the Italian term “allattateli,” meaning “breastfeed them.”

He then asked his listeners to remember poor mothers around the world who unfortunately cannot feed their children. Even before he delivered his homily, there was at least one mother who was seen breastfeeding her baby.

This isn’t the first time the Pope has spoken up about breastfeeding. In an interview with Vatican Insider in December 2013, he mentioned an instance when he had asked a mother to breastfeed her hungry child.

“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 months old,” he recalled. “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.”

He continued, “I wish to say the same to humanity: give people something to eat! The woman had milk to give to her child; we have enough food in the world to feed everyone. If we work with humanitarian organisations and are able to agree all together not to waste food, sending it instead to those who need it, we could do so much to help solve the problem of hunger in the world.”

Pope Francis is currently in Sri Lanka on his six-day Asian tour. He will then travel to the Philippines.