The Holy Father hugged the unnamed man, who is thought to suffer from neurofibromatosis, and held a silent prayer, having earlier asked those assembled in St Peter’s Square to pray for a sick little girl.

The pictures have been compared to Jesus healing the leper, as well as the work of St Francis of Assisi, after whom the current Pope took his name.

Neurofibromatosis is a painful hereditary condition that can involve distinctive facial tumours.

Treatment is complicated and sufferers, who can be in constant pain, face discrimination because of their appearance.

A girl of four has died after being savaged by her ‘enormous’ pet dog.

Lexi Hudson was playing with the family’s bulldog when it turned on her.

Neighbours said she was ‘shaken like a rag doll’ in the attack outside her home this afternoon.

Her mother, Jodi Hudson, 30, stabbed the dog to death as she desperately tried to wrestle her daughter out of its jaws.

Emergency crews took Lexi to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham but she died of her injuries.

The dog, a rescue animal, had been living with the family for only a few weeks in their flat in the Leicestershire village of Mountsorrel.

Police removed the animal’s body after the attack. It is not a prohibited breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act. Neighbour Glenn Shepphard, 36, said he saw Ms Hudson with blood and mud on her arms and legs. ‘She had obviously tried to wrestle with the dog. It was very big – a type I have never seen before.’

Arthur Nash, a 67-year-old retired driver, said: ‘I saw Jodi after it happened. She was covered in blood.’

Ms Hudson had picked the dog up from a pound, according to family friend Paul Ryan. He said: ‘Lexi was always playing with it and wouldn’t have stood a chance if it went for her.

‘Jodi used to try and walk the dog, but it would struggle and pulled her over a few times. She would never have dreamt in a million years that something like this could have happened.

Lily Parks, 87, who lives near the family, said: ‘It was an enormous dog, but the little girl was very fond of it.’

Lexi had only started school in September, according to neighbours.

Leicestershire police said its investigation was in the ‘very early stages’.

When police heard shrieking from within James Cocksedge’s home following a silent 999 call, they feared the worst.

Breaking down the door, officers were surprised to find nobody inside the London flat – but soon worked out who was behind the call and the noise.

Police found Bruce, a Singapura kitten, hiding inside a wardrobe “looking naughty” – and quite right too, he’d accidentally made the emergency call by walking over the phone.

But the screaming sound heard by police was a domestic incident…of sorts. Bruce was having a scrap with Audrey – Cocksedge’s other cat.

The first Bruce’s owner, a 33-year-old sound engineer, knew about the call was when he came home to find his front door off its hinges.

By all accounts, Bruce has something of a fascination with phones.

“Since we had the landline installed Bruce always rushes to answer the phone when it rings” said James.

“He’s also fascinated by the buttons, which he loves to press.”

The feisty feline’s prank call left his owner red faced – and lumbered with a bill for several hundred pounds for a new door.