Did You Know...

  • As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he lived in an apartment, cooked his own meals and took public transit
  • Each year during Holy Week as archbishop, he washed the feet of different social outsiders, including AIDS patients and the incarcerated, according to Bloomberg News.
  • When elected Pope, he chose not to wear the red shoes made specifically for him, but rather, chose to continue wearing his old, worn-out black shoes from Buenos Aires
  • After his election as Supreme Pontiff, he decided to go back to the hotel where he had been staying to pay the bill himself, and chose to ride in the bus with the rest of the Cardinals, rather than in the limo provided for him
  • He celebrated his first Holy Thursday Mass in a youth prison in Rome, and forbid any media to attend, asking that the Mass be private
  • During his pontificate, Pope Francis lived in the Santa Marta house with the Vatican employees instead of staying in the usual Papal Apartment

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