VATICAN (CNS): “This is your task throughout your lives: to guard the Christian identity of your children,” Pope Francis told parents and godparents before baptising 16 babies in the Sistine Chapel on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord on January 9. He stressed, “It is a daily commitment: help them grow with the light they receive today.”
The pope baptised the seven boys and nine girls—the children of Vatican employees—in the Sistine Chapel during the celebration.
The annual tradition of baptizing infants on the feast day, which began in 1981 by Pope St. John Paul II, was cancelled last year due to the pandemic.
Although the baptisms resumed this year, the number of infants was significantly reduced. In January 2020, the pope baptised 32 infants in the Sistine Chapel.
Delivering a brief, off-the-cuff homily, Pope Francis recalled a hymn for the feast day that said the people of Israel went to the Jordan River to be baptised “with bare feet and bare souls.”
The pope said, “These children today also come here with ‘bare souls’ to receive God’s justification, Jesus’ strength, the strength to move forward in life. Your children will receive their Christian identity today. And you, parents and godparents, must guard this identity.”
