Pope gives a lift to 2 kids in St. Peter's Square

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has given a lift to two lucky kids during his general audience in St. Peter's Square.

A particularly jovial Francis hopped off his white, open-air car Wednesday to greet a group of fifth-graders from Perugia who presented him with a T-shirt from their school. Seemingly joking, Francis asked if any of them wanted to take a spin through the square.

"Me! Me! Me!" they yelled.

Francis picked 11-year-olds Livio Bastianelli and Davide Maria Bianchi and the two hopped aboard.

Bastianelli told The Associated Press it was a ride of a lifetime: "I was really excited. That never happens!"

Francis' sense of humor was also on display later, as he joked that a monsignor, forced to cut short a reading because of a nagging cough, was "getting old."