September 10, 2013 - 2:32PM
Rome: Pope Francis (click here) already has distinguished himself from his predecessor with a more down-to-earth style. Now he is both unnerving the Vatican and delighting the faithful by picking up the telephone and spontaneously calling people, earning the nickname "the Cold Call Pope."
Earlier this month, he called to comfort a pregnant Italian woman whose married boyfriend had unsuccessfully pressured her to have an abortion. The woman, who is divorced and will be a single mother, wrote to the Pope, fearing she had fallen afoul of the church. Not knowing the correct address, she marked the envelope "Holy Father Pope Francis, Vatican City, Rome." The Pope offered to personally baptise the baby when it is born next year, according to an account in La Stampa, a Turin-based daily....
...Reports of the call were greeted by some on Twitter and elsewhere on the internet as a welcome change in the doctrinal rigidity of the church on the issue of homosexuality. But the Vatican's denial of the reports fanned speculation that the call had been a hoax, while also prompting some to question whether the Vatican was dissembling to distance itself from a sensitive topic.
Rome: Pope Francis (click here) already has distinguished himself from his predecessor with a more down-to-earth style. Now he is both unnerving the Vatican and delighting the faithful by picking up the telephone and spontaneously calling people, earning the nickname "the Cold Call Pope."
Earlier this month, he called to comfort a pregnant Italian woman whose married boyfriend had unsuccessfully pressured her to have an abortion. The woman, who is divorced and will be a single mother, wrote to the Pope, fearing she had fallen afoul of the church. Not knowing the correct address, she marked the envelope "Holy Father Pope Francis, Vatican City, Rome." The Pope offered to personally baptise the baby when it is born next year, according to an account in La Stampa, a Turin-based daily....
...Reports of the call were greeted by some on Twitter and elsewhere on the internet as a welcome change in the doctrinal rigidity of the church on the issue of homosexuality. But the Vatican's denial of the reports fanned speculation that the call had been a hoax, while also prompting some to question whether the Vatican was dissembling to distance itself from a sensitive topic.
