As he turns 88, 8 + 8 interesting things about Pope Francis | National Catholic Register

Did you know that Pope Francis was a nightclub bouncer, his favorite movie is La Strada by Federico Fellini, and he doesn’t watch television? On his 88th birthday, these and other interesting facts about Pope Francis are highlighted below.

1. How did he discover his vocation?

On the Feast of Saint Matthew the Apostle, Pope Francis discovered his vocation to the priesthood after going to confession at the age of 16. This happened on September 21, 1953. It was Students’ Day in Argentina, which coincides with the day spring begins in the southern hemisphere and is celebrated with a big party.

“Before going to the party, I went through the parish I attended and found a priest I didn’t know and felt the need to confess. It was a meeting experience for me: I found Someone waiting for me.

“I don’t know what happened; I don’t remember it. I don’t know why this priest was there, whom I didn’t know, why I felt this desire to confess, but the truth is that Someone was waiting for me. He’s been waiting for me for a long time. After the confession, I felt that something had changed,” the Holy Father shared.

He said that after this confession he declared that he was no longer himself: “I had heard something like a voice, a call: I was convinced that I must be a priest.”

2. What is his favorite food?

November 19, 2022 was one of the rare occasions when Pope Francis left the Vatican without an official agenda. The reason? A family reunion in Asti, the Italian town where her cousin Daniela di Tiglione lives, who was celebrating her 90th birthday.

On this occasion, Pope Francis was able to taste his favorite dish: bagna cauda, ​​​​a typical dish from Piedmont prepared with anchovies, oil and garlic and used as a sauce for vegetables.

3. He loves dancing.

Before being ordained a priest, particularly during his youth, Pope Francis practiced tango, one of the most emblematic dances of Argentina. He also loved the milonga, another dance typical of his native country.

4. He was a bouncer at a nightclub.

Like many young men, Jorge Bergoglio worked in different jobs to earn his first salary. Although his first job was cleaning floors at the hosiery company where his father worked, in 2013 he admitted to a group of young people that he was also a bouncer at a nightclub. Thanks to this experience, he began to “guide the disillusioned towards the Church”.

5. He is missing a lung.

At the age of 21, he had to have a lung removed due to an infection, which caused him some breathing difficulties in recent years.

6. He only refused forgiveness once.

Pope Francis has repeatedly encouraged priests to forgive “everything” in the confessional and to “not torture” the faithful in the confessional.

In an interview on Italian television in January, he said that in his more than 50 years of priesthood he had refused forgiveness only once, “because of the hypocrisy of the person “.

7. He says a prayer every day to keep his mood good.

Pope Francis has repeatedly praised the sense of humor and emphasized that sadness is not a Christian disposition. He even went so far as to say that the “mark of a Christian” is joy and not being bitter.

To stay in a good mood, he recites a prayer from St. Thomas More every day, a prayer he has referenced in numerous public appearances, including recently with French President Emmanuel Macron.

“Lord, give me a sense of humor. Grant me the grace to understand a joke, to discover a little joy in life and to be able to share it with others,” the Holy Father prays every day.

8. He turns to Saint Joseph for help in difficulties.

There is an image of Saint Joseph that Pope Francis likes very much and which shows the “silent” saint sleeping.

During his apostolic trip to the Philippines, the Pontiff called Saint Joseph “a strong man of silence” and said he kept this figurine on his desk. “Even when he sleeps, he takes care of the Church,” he said.

“When I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it under Saint Joseph so that he dreams of it. In other words, I tell him, “Pray about this problem!” » » confessed the Holy Father.

9. He likes to nap.

Pope Francis usually goes to bed at 9 p.m. and wakes up around 4 a.m. He sleeps about six hours a day, as he usually reads for an hour after going to bed, until 10 p.m.

“Later, I need a nap.” I have to sleep between 40 minutes and an hour. I take off my shoes and go to bed. And I also sleep soundly. …The days I don’t nap, I notice it,” he once said.

10. Which football team is his favorite?

Even though he no longer lives in Argentina, Pope Francis continues to support the San Lorenzo de Almagro team in Buenos Aires. He keeps up to date thanks to a Swiss guard who informs him every week of team news, since the Pope does not watch the matches.

Indeed, during an audience at the Vatican in September, a delegation from the San Lorenzo club asked the Holy Father for his blessing to name the club’s next stadium after him.

11. He told about the day his life was saved.

At the age of 44, Pope Francis suffered from gallbladder gangrene, a serious complication that occurs when tissue in this organ of the digestive system becomes necrotic due to an interruption in blood flow.

“I felt like I was dying,” the Holy Father said, referring to the night in 1980 when he was operated on by Dr. Juan Carlos Parodi, a prominent Argentine surgeon who saved the life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, then father. In 2014, 34 years later, the two men held a private meeting at the Vatican.

12. Where does he want to be buried?

Unlike many pontiffs throughout Church history, whose coffins lie in the crypts of the Vatican, in the caves beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, the Holy Father revealed that he had made prepare his tomb in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome because of the great devotion he had towards the Virgin Salus Populi Romani (protector of the Roman people), to whom he made a promise.

Furthermore, in December 2022, the Pontiff gave an interview in which he announced that he had signed his resignation in case his state of health did not allow him to continue exercising his ministry.

13. What is his favorite movie?

His first choice is La Strada by Federico Fellini, Oscar winner for best foreign film in 1957.

14. He doesn’t watch television because of a promise made to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Pope Francis says he has not watched television since July 15, 1990, when he promised Our Lady of Mount Carmel he would no longer do so. The Holy Father made this promise because he “felt that God was asking me to do so.”

15. He went to therapy at age 42.

In the book interview Politics and society by Frenchman Dominique Wolton, Pope Francis recounted that, when he was provincial of the Society of Jesus in Argentina, he underwent therapy for six months with a Jewish psychologist. “She was very good, very professional,” said the Holy Father.

16. He went “incognito” through the streets of Rome.

In 2013, the year he was elected bishop of Rome, a Vatican source said. The Huffington Post that Pope Francis went out at night dressed as a priest to give alms and help the poor in the streets of Rome.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It was translated and adapted by CNA.