THERE is no way to escape KYC (Know Your Customer) checks, even if you are the leader of the Catholic Church.
A bank clerk stood up to Pope Leo XIV — and even hung up on him — when he called his bank in the US to update his contact details two months after being elected pontiff, a friend has revealed.
“He is a very humble guy. Two months in, he calls his bank in South Chicago to change his phone number and I think his address,” priest Tom McCarthy told the story in a social media video that went viral.
“He gets a lady and says, ‘Yes, ma’am, I’m Robert Prevost. I’d like to change’ — and she asks all the questions and then says, ‘I am sorry, sir, it says here you have to come in person.'”
The leader of 1.4 billion Catholics explained that this would not be possible, as he can only leave Vatican City on papal visits.
After a brief back and forth with the clerk, he tried one last card: “Would it matter to you if I told you I am Pope Leo?”
“She hung up on him,” Father McCarthy said. “Could you imagine being known as the woman who hung up on the Pope?”
Leo later called a priest he knew in Chicago, who managed to reach the bank’s president — who initially pushed back, defending the policy.
The matter was eventually resolved, The Times reported, after the president conceded: “We don’t want to lose the account of the Pope.”