“Hi Michele, it’s Pope Francis on the line”

“Hi Michele, it’s Pope Francis”.

At the other end of the line was Michele Ferri, aged 40, curious to see a number he was sure never to have seen before. His brother, Andrea, who owned a petrol station, had been killed two months previously by an employee aided by an accomplice. This savage murder tore open a wound that will never heal. 

Michele’s post on the social networks read, “I have always forgiven you for everything. But not this time, God. I’m not forgiving you for this”. 

However, the victim’s brother didn’t stop at writing up his grief on Facebook. He put pen to paper and wrote to the Pope, telling him of his suffering.
 
Michele was well aware that the current Pope loves normality. After all, this is a pontiff who had said, “we must be normal” in response to those taken aback at him boardinga plane carrying his own hand luggage. 

Michele certainly hadn’t been expecting last Wednesday’s call, as reported on by the Italian newspaper ‘Il Messaggero’.

Wheelchair-bound for years, Michele himself was the one to have spoken out via his Facebook profile, saying, “Today I received an unexpected phone call... I picked up and said ‘Hello?’, only to hear a voice at the other end reply, “Hi Michele, it’s Pope Francis....”. What a special feeling”. 

His post went on to say, “He told me that he had cried when he read the letter I wrote him”. 

The rest of what was said in the phone conversation will remain private, nothing more having been revealed.

One of the many ways in which Bergoglio has broken with protocol has been by making personal phone calls without the help of intermediaries or secretaries, a habit kept up since his days back in Buenos Aires. 

In fact, immediately after having been elected Pope, he called the homes of two families of friends who he used to meet up with when in Rome. He followed this up with a personal call to his trusted newsagent to let him know that the new job in Rome would mean that he would no longer be dropping by to pick up his daily newspaper, ‘La Nación’.

It did nevertheless take a while to convince him that it wasn’t just some prankster at the end of the line but the Pope himself.
 
Pope Francis also called his dentist in the Argentine capital to cancel an appointment, saying that he really wouldn’t be able to turn up because he had to stay in the Vatican. 

At first, the secretary who answered the phone refused to believe her ears. He has also made personal calls to friends and priests, as well as members of the laity who have written him letters. 

He once called someone to thank them for sending him a book. 

And all of this without being introduced by a secretary: “we must be normal.”