'So to you mothers: breastfeed!': Pope Francis makes bold statement about mothers, breastfeeding and the Church

Twenty-eight babies were baptized by the pontiff in the Sistine Chapel.

Pope Francis baptized 28 babies, fifteen boys and 13 girls, during his Sunday Mass.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The baptisms marked the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, and the pontiff shared several words about babies, the Christ child, mothers and the Holy Virgin.

In the midst of his brief homily, a child began to cry.

When they heard the first cry, several of the other babies joined in the sound, creating a chorus of disgruntled babes.

Pope Francis understood the infants might have been hungry and he encouraged each mother to nurse as normal.

ZENIT offered the following translation of the Pope's brief off-script homily:

"Dear Parents,

"You have asked for your children[s] faith. The faith that will be given in baptism. Faith ... that which means the life of faith, because faith is lived, walking on the road of faith and giving witness to the faith.

"Faith is not only reciting the Creed at Sunday Mass. It is not only this. Faith is believing what is the truth: that God, the Father, Who sent His Son and the Spirit, gives us life. But faith is trust in God, and this, you must teach to them [your babies], by your example and by your life.

"Faith is light: in the baptism ceremony, you will be given a candle lit, as in the early days of the Church. At that time, baptism was called "enlightenment" because faith illuminates the heart, makes one see things with another light.

"Through Baptism, the Church will give faith to your children. And you have the task to make it grow, preserve it, and ensure it becomes a witness to all the others. This is the meaning of this ceremony. This is what I wanted to tell you: keep the faith, make it grow so that it can be a witness to others.

"And then, begin the concert, it is because the children are in a place that they do not know, they got up earlier than usual, perhaps. When one begins one note, the other follows along ... Some cry simply because another cried. Jesus did the same: I like to think that the first 'sermon' of Jesus in the stable was a cry, the first ... And then since the ceremony is a bit long, someone cries of hunger.

"So to you mothers: breastfeed! Without fear, all as normal. As the Madonna nursing Jesus. Do not forget you have asked for faith. To you, [is] the task of guarding the faith, making it grow, in order that it may become a witness for all of us. For all of us, even for us priests and bishops."

Pope Francis gracefully wove breastfeeding into his homily on faith and did not create a spectacle of the natural way of feeding babies - an ancient and beautiful connection between mother and child.

Many recoil at the sight of a nursing baby not because the child is hungry but because its mother would dare to reveal herself.

Pope Francis understands the basic human need to eat and graciously offered concerned mothers an opportunity to stop their children from crying of hunger.

Perhaps if more people were like Pope Francis, mothers everywhere could feed their children without shame or stigma.

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