Inside Pope Francis' 81st birthday celebrations - cake, balloons, and pizzas!
Pope Francis
The pope's birthday this year falls on Gaudete Sunday, which the church marks as a moment of particular joy as celebrations for the birth of Jesus Christ approach
Pope Francis celebrated his 81st birthday on Sunday with a massive crowd who gathered around theSaint Peter's Square and sang happy birthday.
The celebration took place on Sunday morning where twenty-five thousand children and pilgrims from many lands came to wish him, children carried balloons and boughtstatues of the infant Jesus for him to bless, as per Roman traditions.
The celebrationswere followed by lunch and cake cutting ceremony.
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Pope Francis looking at children holding balloons shaped in the number 81 (AFP)
The cakewas made byMauro Pallotta, famously known asMauPal- who is an Italian graffiti artist.
The cake is designedwith a picture of the pope carrying the world on his shoulders.
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The pear and cinnamon delight shows Francis in his white cassock, holding up with one hand the world, which is divided in two but stitched back together - a symbol of the pope's unifying force, Rome pastry maker Hedera said.
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The cake is decorated with a drawing of Italian street artist Mauro Pallotta a.k.a Maupal (AFP)
Numerous children from "Dispensario Santa Marta", a Vatican pediatric clinic gathered around Francis during lunch - the feast included pizzas which were decorated with candles.
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Pope Francis blowing a candle on a pizza for his 81st birthday with children assisted by "Dispensario Santa Marta". (AFP)
"Be always joyful, even when things don't go as we wish they would," the pope said during the Angelus prayer.
"When children see problems at home, parents that fight, they suffer. Don't make them sad. They must always grow up with joy," he said as he met disadvantaged youngsters looked after by a Vatican foundation.
The pope's birthday this year falls on Gaudete Sunday, which the church marks as a moment of particular joy as celebrations for the birth of Jesus Christ approach.