From his salary to his ex-girlfriend: 10 things you didn’t know about Pope Francis
Yes, the Pope was once in love!
He succeeded Benedict XVI in 2013, lives in the Vatican City – of which he is the sovereign entity – and he was born on December 17, 1936. These are the most common things many people know about Pope Francis. The Pope sometimes has a little bit of a dull image. But did you know that there are a lot of interesting and peculiar facts about Pope Francis? We have listed them for you.
1. He is known as Pope Francis, but His Holiness was born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
2. The Bishop of Rome is very good at speaking different languages. He is fluent in Italian, German and Spanish. The last one is not surprising because he was born in Argentina. In addition, the pope also has a basic knowledge of English, French and Portuguese.
3. Part of his lung is missing. Why? As a child he got an infection and part of one of his lungs had to be removed.
4. The pope can dance! If anyone “works” far beyond their retirement age, it is the Pope. But he is still young at heart, because he loves to do the tango! “I love to tango and danced it a lot when I was young,” he told Ambrogetti and Sergio Rubin, the authors of his biography El Jesuita, which appeared in 2010.
Read further on the next page for some even stranger facts!
5. The Archbishop had a girlfriend! “She was one of my friends with whom I regularly went dancing, but then I discovered my religious calling,” the Pope confessed to the authors of his biography. So, definitely not a scandalous affair for the Pope.
6. Students sometimes find it difficult to cover living expenses because of their low income. Jorge mentioned that he also experienced this. And so he worked as a bouncer in a bar in Buenos Aires to fund his studies.
7. The archbishop is a big fan of football. He is a passionate fan of San Lorenzo Football Club.
8. As the Placeholder of Jesus Christ, the pope has many tasks, but even the pope sometimes takes time off to watch a movie. Franciscus’s favorite? Babette’s Feast, a Danish drama from 1987.
9. Francis is the first non-European pope in a long time. His only non-European predecessor took over in 731.
10. As the head of the Roman Catholic Church, His Holiness is building a nice retirement. Pope Benedict XVI resigned in 2013 and received a nice pension package. The last time the Vatican gave a pension was 600 years ago. The Italian newspaper La Stampa reported that the Pope Emeritus receives 2500 euros a month.
