VATICAN CITY — Continuing
his occasional series of "Mercy Friday" visits, Pope Francis
surprised the students at a school renamed in March in honor of a student who
died of leukemia at the age of 11.
For the visit May 25 to the Elisa Scala Comprehensive School,
which includes students from the age of 3 to 14, the pope also brought books
for the school library. The Vatican did not provide the titles of the books or
give any other details about them.
Before the city of Rome and the Italian department of education
allowed the whole school to be named after Elisa, the library was. Her parents,
Giorgio and Maria, said their daughter loved to read and, after she died in
2015, they started the library, which now holds more than 20,000 volumes, all
of which were donated.
The couple gave the pope a guided tour of the shelves.
Pope Francis arrived at the school after classes had ended for
the day. But more than 200 students were there preparing for a year-end show
featuring dance, sport and theater. After five months of rehearsals, they sang for
the pope.
The pope began the "Mercy Friday" initiative during the
Holy Year of Mercy in 2015-16 to highlight the corporal and spiritual works of
mercy. Among other places, the visits have taken him to hospitals and
rehabilitation centers, a group home for children, a L'Arche Community, a
halfway house for women inmates with small children and a home for women
rescued from forced prostitution.