Wednesday papal audiences are often a good opportunity for ordinary people to gain access to Pope Francis, and this week's was no exception.
The pontiff was photographed with a group of LGBTQ+ Catholics, and several survivors of sexual abuse who arrived at the Vatican by bicycle from Germany handed him a letter demanding a better response from the Church to the crisis.
But Wednesday's had a peculiarity: in the midst of all that, Francis stopped the action in St. Peter's Square to receive a call on a cell phone, which he answered during the meeting.
The device rang as a man climbed to the lectern to give one of the morning's readings, but an aide to the pope told him to wait. The official then handed a cell phone to Francis, who spoke quickly for about a minute and resumed the hearing.
The Vatican gave no information about the content of the call.
Members of the LGBTQ+ group Mosaiko said they came to the square to deliver a message of inclusion and unity to the pontiff on the international day against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.
"What we come to ask Pope Francis is that the Church finally, let's say, welcome us," Tiziano Fani Braga, the group's coordinator, said after the audience. "We try to be an integral part of the Church, like all believers, without discrimination and to fight against all types of discrimination."
Also in the square were 15 survivors of sexual abuse by clergy and their companions, who left Munich on May 6 on a bicycle pilgrimage to Rome. They sought to draw attention to the way the Catholic Church deals with priests who rape and sexually abuse children and vulnerable adults, and the way it treats victims.
The group sent a letter to Francis urging him to "do everything in your power to ensure that in all sectors of the Universal Church the issue of sexual and spiritual abuse is seen, confronted and prevented through appropriate preventive measures."
The letter acknowledges that some initial steps have been taken, but emphasized that more needs to be done and that "a clear signal must be sent to the perpetrators and bishops who failed to live up to their responsibilities and who, to some extent, still today have not."
Francis' weekly catechism lesson focused on the life and vocation of St. Francis Xavier, and concluded with another call for peace in Ukraine.
