Pope baptizes 32 babies in Sistine Chapel

January 13, 2014 - Pope Francis observed a papal tradition on Sunday marking the feast of the Baptism of Lord with a Mass during which he baptized 32 infants whose wails resounded amid the splendor of Michelangelo’s frescos in the Vatican’s famed Sistine Chapel. The infants were primarily children of Vatican employees. Formally welcoming the children as members of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis poured water from a shell-shaped dish over the heads of the babies held in their mothers' arms. The Pope, who was elected the first Latin American and Jesuit pope in the same chapel on March 13, pronounced the babies' names one by one, as parents held their children, dressed in white. In his homily at the Mass, Pope Francis noted that Jesus Himself had no need of Baptism, but that with His Divinity in union with His human body, Jesus blessed the waters and gave them the ability to be used in Baptism. Ascending into Heaven, the Lord commanded His followers to go into the world to baptize – a command that the Church fulfils even to the current day, the Pope pointed out. He said the newly-baptized infants are a link in the chain; in time, they will return to have their own children baptized. This implies a duty on the part of parents, the duty of transmitting the Faith to their children, so that they in turn can pass it along to their children. At one point during his homily, the Pope, known for his simple, humble and down-to-earth ways, reminded mothers to feel free to feed their infants if were hungry. The Sistine Chapel choir sang during the ceremony, but Pope Francis said that ``today the most beautiful chorus is that of the babies.'' He told parents that the most beautiful inheritance they could give their children was faith. The liturgical feast of the Baptism of the Lord marks the end of the Christmas season. The Argentine Pope, the first to choose the name Francis, had two Francescas among the 32 infants.