Pope pays respects to his late confessor and praises Franciscan order

At the weekend the Pope made an unexpected trip across Rome to pay his respects to a Franciscan priest who died last week and had been the pontiff’s confessor.

Pope Francis left the Vatican on the morning of Sunday 23 June to visit the church of Santi Quaranta Martiri e San Pasquale Baylon where the body of Father Manuel Blanco Rodríguez, who had lived in the Roman church for 44 years, and died at the age of 85, was lying in repose.

In his traditional noontime Angelus address at the weekend, Francis paid tribute to Blanco and to the order of Franciscans.