Of Course, Pope Terrifies Children (Have You Seen His Smile? Makes Me Shriek!)

The official explanation - offered by everyone except the kid - is that the child mistook the Pope for a doctor, and that's why he recoiled in horror. But c'mon, look at the guy! He cracks mirrors like clowns crack smiles! If it wasn't for that shattering reflection, I'd assume vampire. He should be baking gingerbread houses and eating lost German children.

Pope Scares Child Who Mistook Him for Doctor

from Reuters

ROME - A child began crying when 78-year-old Pope Benedict approached his bed in the cardiology ward of the Bambino Gesu hospital near the Vatican on Friday.

"It's the white [robes]," a nurse explained to the Pope. "He can't take anymore of these white coats."

The Pope stopped to comfort dozens of children during the two-hour visit.

One little girl, Fabiola, wrote a note and drawing for his visit saying: "Pray for me so that I don't have to have any more transfusions and so I can go back to the playground with my friend Simone."

The Bambino Gesu, now one of Europe's most technologically advanced, was opened in 1869 with just 12 beds as Italy's first children's hospital. It was donated to the Vatican in 1924.