Pope Leo’s financial institution hangs up on him as employee thinks he is a prank caller
Pope Leo XIV was hilariously hung up on by a Chicago bank worker who thought he was a prankster when the ‘humble’ Pontiff personally phoned in to update his account details
Pope Leo was left stunned after a bank employee slammed the phone down on him(Image: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/EPA/Shutterstock)
The Pope was left stunned after a bank employee slammed the phone down on him during a routine call to update his details. Pope Leo XIV, the American formerly known as Robert Prevost, contacted his local bank in Chicago shortly after his election last May, only to find that his new holy status didn’t carry much weight with customer service.
The hilarious blunder was revealed by his friend, Reverend Tom McCarthy, who told a Catholic gathering in Illinois that the “humble” Pontiff had simply wanted to update his address and phone number. Despite breezing through the bank’s security questions, Leo was told he would need to pop into the branch in person to finalise the changes.
According to McCarthy, the Pope responded: “Well, I’m not going to be able to do that. I gave you all the security questions.” In a desperate bid to prove his identity, the Holy Father added: “Would it matter to you if I told you I’m Pope Leo?”
The worker, convinced she was being wound up by a prank caller, immediately hung up the phone.
McCarthy said: “She hung up on him. Could you imagine being known as the woman who hung up on the Pope? That’s how humble he was – he could have had a secretary or an assistant do it. But he thought, ‘Oh well I will just call.'”
Refusing to give up, the Pope eventually reached out to a priest to help him get a direct line to the bank’s president. While the boss initially backed his staff member, saying “That is our policy,” he soon had a change of heart.
Realising they were about to lose their most famous client, the president reportedly said: “We don’t want to lose the account of the Pope.”
Leo’s details were finally updated, but he isn’t the first Pope to be mistaken for a fraudster. His predecessor, Pope Francis, famously faced similar issues when cold-calling Catholics who had written to him.
In 2015, an ill Italian man named Franco Rabuffi hung up on Francis twice, believing a prankster was on the line. It took three attempts before the message finally got through.
Rabuffi later told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano: “I was speechless, but Francis came to my rescue, saying that what had happened was funny.”
The embarrassed fan later travelled to St. Peter’s Square to apologise to the Holy Father in person.
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