Speaker Anġlu Farrugia did not realise Pope Francis was so close when photographers caught him on camera metres away with his mobile phone to his ear during Sunday’s canonisation ceremony.

The ‘all-important’ phone call was not an emergency, nor one he urgently had to reply to, but a call he actually made himself to his secretary who was further back in the queue, to establish where the Maltese delegation had to meet after greeting the pontiff.

Contacted yesterday, Dr Farrugia attempted to defend his action by saying he had not realised he was so close to the Pope nor that he was being photographed.

“The call lasted just 31 seconds and I did it in the best interests of the delegation,” Dr Farrugia said.

More in Times of Malta and timesofmalta.com Premium.

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