Pope Francis swarmed by joyful nuns during Verona visit

A group of cloistered nuns greeted Pope Francis on Saturday 18 May, as he attended a ceremony inside Verona’s Basilica of San Zeno.

The nuns, who usually observe the rules of “papal enclosure” and rarely leave their nunneries, were let out of their convents for the special occasion and did not miss the chance to touch the pontiff’s hands and kiss his crucifix.

After the meeting, Francis joked that “even cloistered nuns do not lose joy”.

The Vatican on Friday released new norms on alleged supernatural phenomena, issuing a rule that says only a pope, rather than local bishops, can declare apparitions and revelations to be “supernatural”.