Pope Francis donned a green hospital gown over his white cassock and entered the neonatal unit of a Rome hospital, peering into the incubators, making the sign of the cross and encouraging worried parents.
The trip to the babies' ward of Rome's San Giovanni Hospital and then to a hospice on September 16 were part of a series of Mercy Friday activities Pope Francis has been doing once a month during the Year of Mercy.
By visiting the ailing newborns and the dying on the same day, the Vatican said, Pope Francis "wanted to give a strong sign of the importance of life from its first moment to its natural end."
