Pope Francis' tenure has been an interesting and eventful one so far, and as you might
imagine, the less-known aspects about the pontiff's life are no less fascinating. This
is the untold truth of Pope Francis.
Popes tend to be fairly elderly and, as such, aren't exactly known for their physical prowess.
However, when you look at Pope Francis outside the papal context, he's a fairly broad-shouldered
guy who looks like he might have been pretty strong in his younger days. As Newsweek tells
us, this might very much be the case — at least, judging by the fact that when Jorge
Mario Bergoglio was a young man, he financed his studies by working as a nightclub bouncer
in his hometown, the Argentine city of Buenos Aires.
While it's hard to imagine the gentle Francis standing stone-faced at the door, eyeballing
the line of party people — let alone hauling drunken revelers toward the exit like Patrick
Swayze in Road House — this gem of a fact about his early profession leads to the enticing
prospect that back in the day, some citizens of Buenos Aires were removed from the premises
after having a few too many by none other than the future pope.
"You're too stupid to have a good time!"
Being one of the most famous leaders in the entire world and guiding the Catholic Church
is no easy feat, and as Time notes, Pope Francis plays the game in extra-difficult mode on
account of having only one fully functional lung. A chunk of his right lung was removed
when he was young, and when he became the pope in 2013, it was reported that this happened
when he was a teenager, presumably due to some infection or another. However, it was
noted that the only real adverse effect was that he has less lung capacity than the average
person.
In 2020, Francis addressed his lung issue in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, according
to CBS News. The picture he painted of the health scare of his youth was significantly
more grim than one might imagine. He was 21 when he ended up on a ventilator after a misdiagnosis,
and his right lung had to be drained of some 34 ounces of fluid before part of it had to
be removed altogether. The struggle, he says, nearly killed him. Francis wrote in his book
Let Us Dream: The Path to A Better Future,
"For months I didn't know who I was, if I would live or die, even the doctors didn't
know. I remember hugging my mother one day and asking her if I was about to die."
He thinks he wouldn't have survived without an experienced nurse, who adjusted his dosage
behind the doctor's back.
File this under "Pope facts that sound made-up": Pope Francis released a pop rock album in
2015. Now, Francis didn't record a bunch of chart-topping, radio-friendly songs about
love and loss with his dulcet tones slowly building toward a power chorus. He is still
the pope, after all.
The album, Wake Up!, is a far stranger affair, and as Pitchfork tells us, it actually leans
toward progressive rock. The peculiar collection of tunes — including one called "Wake Up!
Go! Go! Forward!" — contains a number of the pope's speeches in various languages,
embedded in an assortment of curious musical tracks, many of which come courtesy of Tony
Pagliuca of the 1970s prog-rock band Le Orme.
As Pitchfork's reviewer opines, it's all very strange and not always musically impressive.
Yet, the very fact that the Vatican set out to release something like this instead of
more classic ecclesiastically themed pope record fare speaks volumes of the kind of
pope that Francis is.
Pope Francis might come across as a more laid-back guy than your average pontiff, but you might
still have a hard time imagining him tearing up the dance floor. Yet, by his own admission,
the pope is a big fan of dancing, and he sees it as a pretty essential extension and expression
of a person's happiness. In his book Dear Pope Francis: The Pope Answers Letters from
Children Around the World, he discussed his fondness of dancing as a child, writing,
"I liked to be together with other children, playing, dancing our typical dances from Argentina.
I had a lot of fun."
In his teenage years, the future pope became fond of tango, and this carried over well
into his adult years. In an interview with AFP before he was head of the Catholic church,
he said,
"I love [tango]. It's something that comes from deep within me."
The pope's love of the dance has not gone unseen by the people. When Francis turned
78 in 2014, the celebrations involved a huge tango event at St. Peter's Square, where hundreds
of dancers turned up.
Pope Francis is reportedly very, very fond of association football. Perhaps in keeping
with his humble character, the pope's favorite club is the oft-struggling Argentine Premier
League-side San Lorenzo, and he's even said to hold a club membership card. Architect
and fellow supporter Oscar Lucchini told Reuters,
"[Pope Francis] says he lives in a permanent state of suffering for San Lorenzo."
On occasion, the pope has found ways to incorporate his favorite sport to his papal duties. As
Sports Illustrated tells us, Francis has held many meetings with soccer notables over the
years and amassed a bunch of personalized team jerseys in the process. As for his own
skills?
"I was not good at football."
According to Rome Reports, in 2016 he gave an audience to players from his beloved San
Lorenzo and AS Roma, the biggest club in Rome, before the teams met in a charity match — and
couldn't resist the opportunity to jokingly dunk on Roma by giving them some San Lorenzo
merch.
Being one of the most influential people around, you'd expect the pope to be able to eat just
about anything he likes. According to NPR, though, Pope Francis is very much not a caviar
and quail's eggs type of guy. Instead, he has a history of preferring simple fare like
salad, chicken, and soup, and though he has been known to partake in the occasional coffee
or glass of wine, he generally keeps it pretty simple.
Before he ascended to the papacy, he was also known to cook his meals himself instead of
resorting to kitchen staff. Though his current job has him wearing clothes that decidedly
aren't chef's whites, his attitude toward food and dining has remained pretty easy-going.
As the Washington Post tells us, he has even turned up at the Vatican's employee cafeteria
and had lunch at the same table with the workers, making chit chat and even posing for photos.
Though Francis does tend to keep it simple, it doesn't mean that he doesn't like to treat
himself every now and then. NBC News reports that he misses being able to pop out for a
nice pizza, and according to TMZ, doctors have actually told him to cut back on pasta
and other carbs.
According to NBC News, July 15, 1990, was a significant date in the life of the future
Pope Francis, because this was the last day he watched television. Though the pope presumably
has better things to do than keeping up with the latest reality shows in any case, he reportedly
went as far as outright promising the Virgin Mary to abstain from that point on and hasn't
strayed since. In fact, that's not the only small screen the pope has decided to avoid.
Though ABC News reports Francis has called the internet "a gift from God," CNET notes
that he doesn't personally use it at all, and that he generally avoids most media — though
he does allow himself 10 minutes with an Italian newspaper as part of his morning routine.
While it's unclear precisely what show or life event caused him to swear off the small
screen, it quite likely wasn't sports. The decision to avoid TV has brought one significant
downside to Francis' life. Since he's located in Vatican and his beloved soccer team, San
Lorenzo, is in Argentina, it's hard for him to keep up with the team without television.
However, Francis has reportedly devised a handy workaround to this problem. Apparently,
a designated member of the Swiss Guard keeps up with San Lorenzo's games and informs the
pope how the team is doing.
The Vatican is a pretty impressive place, but that doesn't mean the pope lives in a
massive palace. Oh, he has a bunch of pretty awesome dwellings at his disposal, but according
to the BBC, Pope Francis made it clear early on that he isn't about to live in the Palace,
where the luxurious papal apartments make up the top floor.
Instead of the glorious dozen-plus rooms with a great view, he was content to move to a
comparatively humble two-room apartment in the Santa Marta building near St. Peter's.
This is something of a habit of his, actually. Back when he was the archbishop of Buenos
Aires, he also elected to stay out of the local Bishop's Palace in favor of leading
a more modest existence.
The apartment arrangements, as America magazine notes, was only the beginning of Francis'
fight against his right to live in excessively palatial places. He was also quick to inform
everyone that he wouldn't spend his summers at the pope's lavish summer palace, Castel
Gandolfo.
When the lack of papal presence caused a slump in the local economy, he responded by turning
the palace into a museum. Though the area gets by without regular visits from the pontiff,
some of the locals reportedly would be fine if the profitable tourism business closed
down, if it meant that the papal visits to Castel Gandolfo would resume.
As the Washington Post notes, Pope Francis has become notable for being the kind of pontiff
who doesn't shy away from a selfie. From teens to newlyweds and random acquaintances, many
people have managed to add a selfie with a smiling Francis to their collection.
Still, while the pope may be game to pose and smile, America magazine tells us that
Francis' personal opinion of selfie culture is not-so-glowing. In 2018, he discussed an
event where he met young people from an international program, saying,
"They were all there waiting for me. When I arrived, they made noise, as young people
do. I went to greet them and only a few gave their hand. The majority were with their cellphones
[saying], 'Photo, photo, photo. Selfie!'"
While the pope seems to fully realize that this is the game, and the many selfies he's
smiled for show that he does very much know how to play, it doesn't mean that he particularly
likes it. This isn't just an "old man doesn't understand the youth of today" situation,
either. Instead, Francis feels that selfies are part of the "virtualized" lifestyle, which
can potentially alienate kids from others and cause them to lose touch with the real
world. He said in 2018,
"We must make young people 'grounded' in the real world; to touch reality without destroying
the good things the virtual world may have because they are useful. This is important:
reality, concreteness."
"May he bless the elderly, and the young people."
As Vatican News and America magazine report, one of Pope Francis' greatest interests and
biggest concerns is the subject of climate change. He communicates with world leaders
about the issue and doesn't let anyone forget the fact that the people who the situation
hurts the most are often the ones with the least amount of power to do anything about
it. He said in a 2020 message to the United Nations,
"The effects of the ongoing pandemic and climate change — which are relevant not only for
the environment but also for the spheres of ethics, society, economics, and politics — weigh
most heavily upon the lives of the poor and vulnerable."
This isn't just some random hobby the pope picked up during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,
either. As the Guardian tells us, in 2019 Francis went as far as to declare what he
called a "climate emergency," calling for action in no uncertain terms. And it goes
even further than that.
In 2015, the Washington Post reported that presidential candidate Rick Santorum was busy
criticizing the pope, because the pope was busy addressing the climate change issue.
All in all, Francis seems to pay a lot of attention to this particular earthly matter.
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