Just act natural, it’s the pope calling

A WORD of warning to those who write personal notes to Pope Francis: He might just call you back.

Francis has charmed the masses with his informal style, simplicity and sense of humour – and a handful of strangers have enjoyed the treatment up close, receiving papal phone calls out of the blue after writing to him about their suffering, or some personal tragedy.

After another random phone call from the pope this week, Italy’s leading Corriere della Sera daily offered etiquette tips for the lucky recipients, proposing conversation starters and no-go areas on its front page yesterday.

Topping the list: Be ready, especially if the land line rings.

Francis has a fondness for making calls the old-fashioned way, using land lines and placing the calls himself, often surprising recipients by simply announcing: “It’s the pope.”

After his election in March, Francis reportedly called his newspaper stand in Buenos Aires to cancel his daily delivery, and his shoemaker to tell him not to bother with papal red leather loafers but to keep making his black orthotics.

The receptionist at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome thought he got a prank call when Francis phoned two days after being named pope looking for the Jesuit superior. Francis has since called an Italian man whose brother was killed, and a Colombian woman to thank her for a book.

Beppe Severgnini, a Corriere columnist, advised people not to be worried about what to say: “Just be natural,” he wrote. “If he wanted to get bored, he would have called a government minister.” – Sapa-AP

Pope Francis