Break-dancers perform for the Pope

In an unusual spectacle at the Vatican, Pope John Paul II presided over a performance of break-dancers today, who leapt, flipped and spun their bodies to a dance beat from a tinny boom box.

The 83-year-old pontiff seemed to approve, waving his hand after each dancer completed their moves, then applauding for the entire group, from a cultural organisation in John Paul’s homeland of Poland.