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Pope Francis' hat missing on arrival in the Philippines

Hats off to the Pope for dealing with the mishap in typically smooth fashion

Kiran Moodley
Thursday 15 January 2015 07:34 EST
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He's rejuvenated the Catholic Church, repaired relations with gay people, reached out to the poor and won Time's Person of the Year after just a few months in charge.

Now, Pope Francis has shown how to pull-off a fashion fail with ease.

Upon arrival in the Philippines, where he begins the first papal visit for 20 years, the Pope excited his aircraft to be met by hundreds of delirious wellwishers.

Yet with the conditions in Manila particularly windy, his papal skullcap was blown off completely; the poor piece of material barely got to see any of the Philippines before being whisked off, potentially never to be seen again.

On the television show GMA News, the presenter can be heard saying "Oh no!" when the fancy fascinator flies away.

Still, the Pope merely looked to his side to see where the hat had gone and then carried on regardless, evidently not bothered by the loss of a bit of head warmth when he had about 1,500 schoolchildren dancing for him, as well as officials from the Filipino government and the Catholic Church.

The first visit by a Pope for 20 years in the largely Catholic country has culminated in the release of a slightly bizarre range of official, limited edition Pope Francis dolls.

The dolls have proved particularly popular among the Philippines’ estimated 80 million Catholics. Standing at 12 inches tall and costing around 1,000 pesos (£15), they come with their own box and a certificate of authenticity.

Francis is to deliver an outdoor mass on Sunday at a park in Manila that is expected to draw around six million people. If the turnout is as predicted, it will set a record for the best-attended papal event in history.

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