Pope Francis falls during mass in Poland

Pope Francis, apparently deep in thought, missed a step and fell to the ground Thursday as he approached an open-air altar at Poland's holiest shrine.

Priests quickly rushed over to help the 79-year-old pontiff to his feet.

Asked if Francis suffered any ill effects from the fall, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said “the pope is fine,” the Associated Press reported.

Pope Francis then proceeded to celebrate Mass as planned before tens of thousands of faithful.

 The Mass was celebrated at the foot of the Jasna Gora monastery in southern Poland. 

The shrine to the Virgin Mary holds the revered "Black Madonna of Czestochowa," a 14th century icon that many Poles credit with miracles.

 Pope Francis, visiting the shrine cherished by Poles, praised native son St. John Paul II on Thursday as a "meek and powerful" herald of mercy, and honored the countless "ordinary yet remarkable people" in Poland who held firm to their Catholic faith throughout adversity in the former Communist nation.

The Argentine pontiff, who had never had set foot in Eastern Europe before this week's five-day pilgrimage, gazed in awe for several minutes as he studied the Jasna Gora monastery shrine's iconic image of the so-called Black Madonna and Child.

 The faces in the images are blackened by centuries of varnish and candle soot since the artwork became the object of veneration, starting in the 14th century.

A silver screen was raised slowly and dramatically to unveil the image as Francis stood silently in admiration and then prayed.

Then, during the outdoor Mass near the southern town of Czestochowa, before a crowd that appeared to number more than 100,000, Francis lavished praise on Poland's steadfast Catholic legacy as he urged Poles to hold fast to their faith.