Pope Francis smacked away an overzealous woman who tugged at his arm as he made his way toward a nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square on New Year’s Eve.
The pope was greeting members of a large crowd assembled in front of St. Peter’s Basilica before one woman stretched over the security fencing and pulled at him.
He admonished the woman, who crossed herself as he approached, before swatting at her hand twice and frowning as he walked away.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis said in his annual Christmas message earlier this month that Christians must adapt to living in a post-Christian West.
“We need other maps, other paradigms that might help us change our ways of thinking,” the pope said. “We are not in Christianity, not anymore!”
“We are no longer under a Christian regime because the faith — especially in Europe, but also in much of the West — no longer constitutes an obvious premise of common life,” he added. “On the contrary, it is even often denied, derided, marginalized, and ridiculed.”
