Welcome to America! Pope Francis landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Tuesday, Sept. 22, kicking off his historical, first-ever consult with to the United States. In honor of this landmark occasion, Us Weekly’s Commemorative Special Edition, Pope Francis: His Journey to America, uncovers 25 things you wish to know about the spiritual chief, 78. (Check out some highlights within the video above!)
1. He’s an actual scientist. After incomes a stage in chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires, the Argentina-born long run pope studied philosophy on the Colegio de San Jose in San Miguel, Argentina. He also has a doctorate in theology.
2. His mother didn’t want him to be a priest. When Pope Francis first entered a Jesuit seminary at 21, his mom refused to talk over with him. He has mentioned she was “extremely disillusioned.”
3. As a boy, he amassed stamps for a laugh. Today, he says, “I in point of fact like reading and listening to song.”
4. Celebrities can’t wait to fulfill him. Famous enthusiasts come with Russell Crowe, Chris Rock, (*25*) Jolie, and Brad Pitt.
5. He has had 3 girlfriends. When he was 12, he proposed to his old flame, his neighbor Amalia Damonte. He later had a teenage romance and then fell in love at 22 with a girl he met at an uncle’s wedding.
6. He hasn’t watched television since he made a promise to the Virgin Mary to turn off the tube in 1990.
7. He has only one lung. As a teen, he suffered a serious infection that required surgery to take away a part of one lung.
8. To generate income as a student, the pope (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio) labored as a bouncer at an Argentine nightclub.
9. He’s a rebel. During the harsh Argentine dictatorship, Pope Francis continuously hid other people on church assets, and once even gave identification papers to a man with similar options, enabling him to escape across the border.
10. He’s a baller — a basketballer, this is! Bergoglio shot hoops with friends when he was a youngster, and has a personalized jersey from the Boston Celtics.
11. His favorite painting is The White Crucifixion through Jewish artist Marc Chagall.
12. He’s on Twitter! His care for, @Pontifex, has greater than 6 million fans — 14 million together with the nine other language versions.
13. He makes his personal to-do checklist. Unlike past popes, who maintained detailed public schedules, Pope Francis pencils his own appointments in a private datebook — which has ruffled some feathers on the Vatican.
14. He’s a big soccer fan. The pope is an professional membership member for his lifelong favorite workforce, the San Lorenzo Football Club.
15. He loves Mozart. “The ‘Et Incarnatus Est’ from his Mass in C Minor is matchless; it lifts you to God,” Francis has stated. “Mozart fulfills me.”
16. He knows tips on how to dance the tango.
17. His favourite saint is St. Therese of Lisieux. He stored a picture of the French nun, who died in 1897, in his library in Buenos Aires.
18. He loves chatting on the telephone. Though he doesn’t personal a cellular, the pontiff often rings up friends and associates on his landline — incomes him the moniker the “Cold-Call Pope.”
19. He’s a excellent prepare dinner. According to Angel Rossi, a Jesuit priest from Buenos Aires, he makes a “incredible paella.” He has also taught the chefs on the Vatican the best way to prepare his favorite dessert, dulce de leche.
20. He nods off all over prayer. The pope has admitted to occasionally falling asleep mid prayer, but says “it is just right to fall asleep in God’s presence.”
21. He’s a Lord of the Rings fan, and as soon as referenced J.R.R. Tolkien in a 2008 sermon.
22. He’s a film lover. His favourite is 1954’s La Strada, directed by Federico Fellini.
23. He felt known as to the priesthood at 17, even though he didn’t input a seminary till age 21.
24. He speaks seven languages. He’s fluent in Italian, German, and Spanish, and also is aware of some English, French, Portuguese, and Piedmontese. “The one language that always caused me big issues was English, particularly its pronunciation,” he has stated, “as a result of I'm very tone-deaf.”
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25. He assists in keeping a letter from his grandmother Rosa tucked in his breviary. It reads: “May my grandchildren…have a lengthy and satisfied lifestyles. But if on some painful day, sickness or the loss of a loved one fills you with grief, needless to say a sigh ahead of the Tabernacle, the place the best and maximum august martyr is living, and a gaze at Mary at the foot of the Cross, could make a drop of balm fall on the inner most and most painful wounds.”
Us Weekly’s Commemorative Special Edition, Pope Francis: His Journey to America — featuring full-color pictures, an within have a look at the Vatican, and a historical past of popes in America — is on newsstands now.
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