⁍ Pope wore a white mask during the service at the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli.
⁍ Previously he wore masks only in a car taking him to his weekly audiences in the Vatican.
⁍ Italy recorded 10,874 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, up from 9,338 on Monday.
– Pope Francis has finally taken the gloves off—at least when it comes to public appearances. The pontiff wore a white mask for the first time at a prayer service for peace in Rome today, Reuters reports. The pope had previously only worn masks in a car taking him to his weekly audiences at the Vatican. He attended the service with other Christian leaders, including the Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians. Francis, 83, had come under some criticism, particularly on social media, for not wearing a mask at his general audiences and sometimes coming in relatively close contact with visitors. “Peace is the priority of all politics,” he said at today’s service. “God will ask an accounting of those who failed to seek peace, or who fomented tensions and conflicts. He will call them to account for all the days, months, and years of war endured by the world’s peoples.”
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-pope-mask/pope-wears-mask-for-first-time-at-public-event-idUSKBN27523C