Pope Francis pulls over his car to bless disabled woman - VIDEO

The leader of the Catholic Church had been returning from an appearance in Cassano allo Jonio in Calabria, southern Italy, when he spotted signs asking him to stop.Disregarding any danger - he had hours earlier threatened to excommunicate members of the Mafia - he ordered his driver to pull over and he got out to greet and bless the group.The Vatican’s news.va website reported that people had been waiting with banners reading, 'Please Pope stop here to see an angel who has been waiting for you'.As soon as the Pope stepped out of his characteristically modest blue hatchback, the group approached him with the young woman, called Roberta, who was lying on a stretcher.He bent over and kissed her on the forehead before shaking hands with her family, to cries of 'bravo' and 'grazie'Catholic News Agency reported that Roberta, whose surname is not yet known, is so badly disabled she cannot travel far from her home and is reliant on a machine to breathe.The whole incident was captured on video and uploaded to YouTube, where it has been viewed nearly 500,000 times. The impromptu stop on Saturday is something that would never have been expected of Francis's predecessors, but the current Pope is becoming well known for his spontaneity, courage and personal touch.It comes just over a week after he revealed he was to dispense with the bullet-proof shield on his popemobile, saying: 'It is true that anything could happen, but let's face it, at my age I don't have much to lose.'Previously, he's taken a boy with Down's Syndrome for a spin in the papal runabout, embraced a man whose face is badly disfigured, and washed the feet of children in jail during a Holy Week ceremony.Roberta's family posted a thank-you message on Facebook to the Pope.'I still can't believe it, thank you Holy Father...I thank the Pope for having given us a moment of great joy,' wrote her sister, Pamela, according to The Daily Dot.Ivan Vania, a family friend who helped make the posters that drew Francis's attention, wrote: 'Today we can say that Christ stopped in Sibari in the vestments of Pope Francis.'It was very emotional to see how Pope Francis greeted Roberta, here are gestures in life that are worth more than speeches, much more than you would think...Pope Francis is unique.'(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az