It was just short of 20 minutes into the weekly general audience on August 21 when 10-year-old Clelia Manfellotti of Naples mounted the stairs and began to meander about the stage. Clad in black leggings and a pink T-shirt, with white-strapped sandals on her feet, she made first for the back corner, stage right, where a plain-clothes security officer was stationed.
The plainclothes guard took a step or two towards her, but decided against intervening. When someone from the house – off camera – moved to intercept the child, Pope Francis waved them off and the girl criss-crossed the foreground, upstaging the Roman Pontiff.
