Good PR the Catholic Church just can't buy, as Pope Francis embraces little boy

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Little boy upstages Pope

A young boy has wandered onstage while Pope Francis was given a speech to an estimated 150,000 people.

A young boy, part of a group of children sitting around the stage where the pontiff was delivering his message to families, played around Pope Francis as he continued delivering his speech, occasionally patting the boy's head. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano) Source: AP

You can even fake some human interactions - dress yourself in a cloak of empathy as you comfort a disaster-survivor or be nice to a make-up lady.

But you can't fake what happened at the Vatican this week.

Pope Francis has already been cast as the hope of the side as far as rehabilitating the image of the Catholic Church, and his dealings with six-year-old Carlos, who upstaged him during a papal mass, can only help.

Confronted mid-address with a precocious little person many people would panic, some would crack a joke at their expense, and others would reveal their own displeasure at having their spotlight momentarily dimmed.

But Pope Francis is clearly good with other human beings, no matter who they are.

The Church could do with a bit more of that.

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