FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis attends the weekly general audience, in Saint Peter Square at the Vatican, May 22, 2024. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis praised natural beauty that has not been cosmetically enhanced while meeting plastic surgeons during an audience hosted on Thursday in the Vatican.
"I welcome you with a smile on our lips, natural, not remodelled!", said the pope while addressing members of the Association of Alumni of Professor Ivo Pitanguy (AEXPI).
Pitanguy contributed to the global spread of plastic surgery for reconstructive purposes as well as catering for the desires of the rich and famous before he died in 2016.
Speaking in Spanish, the pope thanked the members of the association for trying to "bring a smile to the faces" of many sick children with plastic surgery for reconstruction.
Francis praised beauty that is not subject to "the planned trends of the fashion business, the business of culture, the culture of appearances, but which connects to the truth of humanity, to its most intimate being, which we cannot disfigure."
"Our faces are destined to reflect a beauty that goes beyond what can be perceived with the eyes of the body," said the pontiff to the surgeons who were in Rome to attend the AEXPI congress.
The congress "When Science Meets Beauty" will hosted in Rome on May 24-25.
(Reporting by Sara Rossi; Editing by Keith Weir)
