VATICAN CITY —The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis is fine after a mishap on the popemobile in Colombia, when he slipped and hit himself trying to reach a child, prompting a wave of concern on social media.
“The Pope is fine,” Vatican spokesman Greg Burke told members of the press corps traveling with Pope Francis in Colombia. He said Francis hit his cheek and eyebrow on the popemobile when it stopped abruptly as he was reaching for a child, and is using ice to lower the swelling.
In a tweet sent by Colombian radio station “Caracol Radio,” the Pope is seen with a black eye and bandage near his eyebrow, with a few spots of blood on his white cassock. In the video, when the journalist asks the Pope if he's all right, Francis nods and then jests, saying “somebody punched me!”
The incident happened in Cartagena on the last day of his Sept. 6-11 visit to Colombia, which also took him to the cities of Bogota, Medellin and Villavicencio.