Pope Francis meets Spider-Man in Vatican
A DIFFERENT type of participant dropped in on Pope Francis’ general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday — Spider-Man.
A man dressed in a full, skin-tight, red, black and blue costume of the comic book and film character - including head cover - sat in the VIP section of the audience in Vatican’s San Damaso Courtyard.
He sat quietly next to a priest dressed in black who appeared to be unperturbed by the colourful character with big white eyes in the next seat.
The man behind the mask turned out to be Mattia Villardita, 27, from northern Italy. He was given a place in the VIP section because of his work dressing up in superhero costumes and visiting sick children in hospitals.
At the end of the audience, he was introduced to the Pope and gave the pontiff a Spider-Man mask.
Last year, Italian President Sergio Mattarella gave Villardita an award for his work with sick children.
Website innews.co.uk reports the Italian Spider-Man said the Pope appeared to already be aware of his “mission” helping to spread joy, adding: “He told me to take a lot of selfies with the kids in the square.”
Last year, Italian President Sergio Mattarella bestowed an honour on Mr Villardita for his work with sick children.
While it does not involve any radioactive spiders, Mr Villardita does have an origin story of his own that inspired him to don the mask, having spent much of his childhood in hospitals due to a birth defect that required multiple surgeries.
The activist explained that he hopes “to alleviate some of the suffering of hospital patients”.
Things have not been easy in the superhero game recently, however, with Covid-19 restrictions making it difficult to visit hospitals — even for one of the world’s most prominent wearers of facemasks.
In a bid to carry on his work, Mr Villardita launched a video call service to let children talk to their favourite hero.