"The concert has begun!" the pope said jokingly. "It is because the children are in a place they do not know; they woke up earlier than usual. One begins with one note and then the others mimic. Some cry simply because another one cried."

Acknowledging that some babies might be crying because they are hungry, the pope urged the mothers to not be ashamed to breast-feed their children in the chapel.

"Mothers, nurse them without fear, with all normality, like Our Lady nursed Jesus," he told them.

Later, before praying the Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis said the feast of the Lord's baptism helps "us to the rediscover the beauty of being a baptized people."

The baptized, he said, are "sinners saved by the grace of Christ, truly inserted by the power of the Holy Spirit in the filial relationship of Jesus with the father and welcomed into the womb of mother church" where Christians are capable of being brothers and sisters with everyone.

Noting John the Baptist's feelings of unworthiness in baptizing Jesus, Pope Francis said John was aware "of the great distance between him and Jesus."

However, Jesus came into the world to bridge the gap between God and man and "to reunite that which was divided," he said.

After his baptism, Jesus begins his mission of salvation, which is characterized "by the style of a humble and meek servant, armed only with the strength of truth," he said.

All Christians, the pope added, are called to follow Jesus' style of proclaiming the Gospel without "shouting or scolding someone."

"True mission is never proselytism but rather attraction to Christ. But how? How is attraction to Christ done? With one's own witness that comes from a strong union with him through prayer, adoration and concrete charity, which is service to Jesus present in the least of our brothers," he said.

After reciting the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis prayed for the parents and for the children he baptized, as well as for a "young catechumen" he baptized Jan. 7 in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives.

The Vatican provided no further details about the young person.

"I invoke the Holy Spirit upon them and their children so that this sacrament, which is so simple yet at the same time so important, may be lived with faith and joy," the pope said.

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