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
humor — and a handful of strangers have gotten the treatment up close,
receiving papal phone calls out of the blue after writing him or
suffering 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 Friday.
Topping the list: Be ready, especially if the land line rings.
The
76-year-old 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
regular black orthotics.
The receptionist at the Jesuit headquarters in
Rome thought he got a crank call when Francis phoned two days after
being chosen pope looking for the Jesuit superior.
Francis has
since called an Italian man whose brother was killed and a Colombian
woman who works in Rome to thank her for a book.
Beppe Severgnini, a noted humorist and Corriere columnist, offered other tips in his article:
—
Listen first, then talk, and if the conversation permits, ask the
soccer-mad Francis about the recent friendly between Italy and
Argentina.
— Always ask how Benedict XVI is doing. "It'll make him
happy," Severgnini noted. Francis frequently refers fondly to his
86-year-old retired predecessor who is living on the other side of the
Vatican gardens.
— Avoid touchy subjects like Vatican policy or scandal.
— Don't ask for any favors.
Severgnini
also said even though Francis is fond of using the informal "tu" in
conversation, stick with the formal "lei" but don't overdo it with
exaggerated titles like "magnificent."
The recipient of this
week's call, a 19-year-old student Stefano Cabizza, was quoted by
Corriere as saying that Francis had told him to refer to him with the
informal "tu," noting that "Even Jesus and the apostles used the 'tu.'"
Cabizza
said he received the call after leaving a letter for Francis following
his Mass at Castel Gandolfo on Aug. 15. He declined to say what he had
written.
Finally, Severgnini advised people not to be worried about what to say.
"Just be natural," Severgnini wrote. "If he wanted to get bored, he would have called a government minister."