Pope Francis baptised 33 infants in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday and told the mothers to feel free to breastfeed them if they cried or were hungry.

“You mothers give your children milk and even now, if they cry because they are hungry, breastfeed them, don’t worry,” he said, departing from his prepared text.

The written text of his homily had the phrase “give them milk”, but he changed it to use the Italian term allattateli, which means “breastfeed them”, and he added that the mothers should not hesitate.

As the 20 girls and 13 boys in the room cried, Francis asked his listeners to remember poor mothers around the world, “too many, unfortunately, who can’t give food to their children”.

Even before he read the homily, at least one mother was seen breastfeeding, perhaps recalling that the pope had used similar words before to make mothers feel at ease.