Pope to Catholics: get out, spread faith, help cholesterol

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis is trying to energize Catholics, telling them to be active, help others, spread the faith, and that’s all good for cholesterol levels, too.

Francis himself looked full of pep Sunday, a day after the 80-year-pontiff returned from a hectic trip to Egypt.

In St. Peter’s Square, he did a whirl in his popemobile to greet some 70,000 members and supporters of Italian Catholic Action, a social-action group celebrating 150 years since its formation.

Of Italian origin, the Argentine-born pope told the crowd his father and grandmother had belonged to the group. Then he said: “Don’t get comfortable in your armchair; that makes you fat and is bad for the cholesterol.”

Instead, he urged them to take care of others, be merciful and keep “being a people of “disciples-missionaries.”