ローマ教皇、「スパイダーマン」と握手　マスク受け取る

【バチカン市国ＡＦＰ＝時事】ローマ・カトリック教会のフランシスコ教皇は２３日の一般謁見（えっけん）で、コミックキャラクターの「スパイダーマン」姿の男性と握手をし、言葉を交わした。（写真はバチカン市国で行われた一般謁見で、ローマ教皇と握手を交わすスパイダーマン姿の男性。バチカンメディア提供）
　スパイダーマンの衣装を身に着けたこの男性は、闘病中の子どもたちを元気づけるために病院を訪問してパフォーマンスを行っているイタリア人のマティア・ビラルディータさん（２８）。活動は、４年前から続けているという。
　ビラルディータさんは、この日の謁見でフランシスコ教皇にスパイダーマンのマスクを贈った。バチカンニュースのインタビューでは「真のスーパーヒーローは病気の子どもたちと、大きな希望を持って共に闘う家族です」と語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/06/24-17:40）

Pope Francis had an unusual encounter at his Wednesday audience meeting a Spider-Man impersonator who usually dons the outfit to entertain sick children.
Italian Mattia Villardita, 28, has been performing in paediatric hospitals dressed as the comic book superhero for the past four years.
He shook hands with the pope -- who a few years ago was famously depicted as Superman by an Italian street artist -- and gave him a Spider-Man mask as a present.
But the real superheroes are the children who are suffering and their families who are fighting with so much hope, Villardita told the Vatican's media outlet, Vatican News.
Villardita, who has a day job in a terminal shipping company in Italy's northwestern Liguria region, leads an association for other hospital volunteers who dress up as superheroes.
Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, they continued their work.
I did more than 1,400 video-calls, as I could not go in person, Villardita told Vatican News.
A former paediatric patient who underwent several surgeries to treat a congenital disease, Villardita was awarded an honorary knighthood in December by Italian President Sergio Mattarella.