September 23, 2013

Picking up the telephone and calling people out of the blue is no big deal for Pope Francis, according to a Vatican official.

Msgr. Dario Vigano, director of the Vatican Television Center, said the pope told him that the many calls the journalists have brought to light are just the tip of the iceberg: “Good thing they don’t know about all the ones I have made!” the pope reportedly said.

In an interview Sept. 13 with Famiglia Cristiana, an Italian Catholic magazine, Vigano said that during a recent meeting with the pope, he asked the pontiff about the media interest in reports of papal cold calls.

According to Vigano, the pope said, “That’s the way I am; I’ve always done this, even in Buenos Aires,” where he served first as auxiliary bishop beginning in 1992 and archbishop from 1998 until his election as pope in March.