Pope Francis baptises 21 infants at annual event

Pope Francis baptising infants in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. Pic/AFP

Pope Francis baptised 21 babies in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday under the ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo, in what has become an annual tradition that marks the end of the Christmas holiday period at the Vatican.

Francis administered the sacrament on the infants, who are the children of employees at the Holy See.

The celebration marks the feast day that recalls Jesus' baptism in the River Jordan and was established in 1981 by St John Paul II.

Each father was given a candle representing the light that "must never go out". Families were told to light them up in difficult times to "ask for the Lord's guidance".

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