Pope Francis urged mothers to "go ahead" and breastfeed during a Mass in the Sistine Chapel during which he baptised 28 babies.
Faced with a rising cacophony of noise from babies crying during the ceremony Francis cited the birth of Jesus in urging mothers not to stand on ceremony in the historic chapel.
“The ceremony is a little long, someone’s crying because he’s hungry. That's the way it is,” the pope was quoted as saying by newswire Agence France-Presse.
“You mothers, go ahead and breastfeed, without fear. Just like the Virgin Mary nursed Jesus,” he said at the annual ceremony commemorating the baptism of Jesus on Sunday.
It is unclear whether any mothers took the Pope's advice.
Pope Francis told the families present that Jesus’ first sermon was the sound of his crying in the stable at Bethlehem. Faith, he added in an impromptu homily, does not just mean reciting the Creed, but it is believing in the truth, trusting in God and teaching others with the example of our lives.
It is also the light which grows in our hearts, he added, which is why a lighted candle is given to every person when they are baptised.
The pope has been a regular campaigner for breastfeeding in public. In the same ceremony last year he said something similar when he told the congregation: "You mothers give your children milk and even now, if they cry because they are hungry, breastfeed them, don't worry ... they are the most important people here."
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