Pope Francis gives comfort to a believer during confession at the Porziuncola (Portiuncula) at Santa Maria degli Angeli Basilica, near Assisi. Pope Francis travelled to the Italian town of Assisi on August 4 for a private visit to mark the 800th anniversary of the 'Pardon of Assisi', under which the slates of sinners can be wiped clean. The 79-year-old pope arrived by helicopter in the hill-town in central Italy where his namesake Saint Francis of Assisi was born and found God, renouncing his wealth for a life of poverty and becoming an emissary of peace during the Crusades. / AFP PHOTO / GIUSEPPE CACACE