Need to know
Pope Leo XIV was left stunned after a bank worker, convinced he was a prank caller, slammed the phone down on him while he was trying to update his account details
- Pope Leo XIV, formerly Chicago-born Robert Prevost, was hung up on by a bank worker while trying to update his personal details. The staff member thought the call was a prank and didn’t believe the Holy Father was actually on the line.
- Instead of getting a fancy assistant or secretary to handle his life admin, the Pope decided to call the bank himself. His friend, Reverend Tom McCarthy, revealed the story to show how down-to-earth the Pontiff really is.
- Even though Leo correctly answered all the standard security questions, the bank insisted he had to visit a branch in person. Since he’s now based in the Vatican, popping into the bank branch was a bit of a stretch.
- In a last-ditch effort to prove his identity, he told the worker, “Would it matter to you if I told you I’m Pope Leo?” It backfired completely, as the employee was convinced she was being wound up and slammed the phone down.
- The Pope eventually had to get a priest to help him reach the bank’s president directly to fix the mess. At first, the boss backed his staff, sticking strictly to the rulebook and saying, “That is our policy.”
- The bank president eventually realised that losing the Pope as a customer would be a massive PR disaster. He quickly changed his mind, admitting they definitely didn’t want to lose such a high-profile account.
- Pope Leo isn’t the only one to be mistaken for a fraud. His predecessor, Pope Francis, had similar issues. Francis often cold-called people who wrote to him, leading many to think a prankster was on the line.
- Back in 2015, a man named Franco Rabuffi hung up on Pope Francis twice before finally realising it was really him. The man later travelled to the Vatican to apologise in person, but the Pope just found the whole thing funny.
- Read the full article here: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/pope-leos-bank-hangs-up-37128815
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