In a rare move, Pope Francis has married a young deaf couple in the chapel of his private residence at the Vatican.
Reuters – Pope Francis delivers the Angelus prayer in Saint Peter’s square at the Vatican
Teodoro Pisciottani and Paulina Szczepanska, the daughter of a Vatican employee, were married on July 9 in the only wedding service conducted by Pope Francis at the Vatican’s Domus Sanctae Marthae.
It is unusual for Pope Francis to preside over wedding ceremonies. The most recent was a wedding of 20 couples in St Peter’s Basilica in 2014 that was shown on Vatican State television.
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The small, quiet wedding ceremony for the deaf couple was reported by a regional news website, ondanews.it, in Salerno, Italy, where Pisciottani is from.
The couple have been active in cultural initiatives for the deaf community in Padova, northern Italy, including appearing in a version of Big Brother for the deaf.
Teodoro and Paulina are the president and vice-president, respectively, of the Padua chapter of the Deaf Youth Committee of Italy, the Catholic Herald reported.
Pope Francis’ residence is administered by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.
The Pope opted to adopt it as his home upon election in 2013 and resides there with basic necessities.
The chapel at Casa Santa Marta is where Pope Francis normally presides at daily Mass from Monday to Saturday, apart from during the summer.
The Mass is at 7am and Pope Francis is said to take breakfast in the residence’s cafe at 8am.
The building of the residence was commissioned by Pope John Paul II.
