At the end of his weekly June 23 audience, Pope Francis and Spider-Man shook hands in Rome, with the superhero handing the pontiff a mask.
Although the pope often will graciously put on a hat when it is offered to him, he didn’t try on the mask.
The moment had been building up ever since TV cameras captured a man dressed in a Spider-Man costume in the Cortile di San Damaso, where the papal audiences are being held to prevent big crowds, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The picture of the two went viral, with some people in social media adding the line, “with great power comes great responsibility,” used in the comics and movies by the character’s Uncle Ben.

Consistory to reflect on Church’s mission to communicate God’s love
In a letter to the Cardinals ahead of a late-June Consistory, Pope Leo XIV calls for a deeper reflection on the themes of “Evangelii gaudium,”


