Photo Courtesy of Papist, Flikr.com
Pope Francis held his papal inauguration in St. Peter’s Square two years ago this week. The beloved religious leader, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, recently went on Mexico’s Noticieros Televisa and reflected on the anniversary.
“The only thing I’d like to do is to be able to go out one day without anyone recognizing me and go get a pizza,” he laughingly said.
But in New York City, pizza is no laughing matter – it comes with its own belief system. Few among us haven’t debated the merits of New York- vs. Italy- vs. Chicago- styles of pizza, with New York almost always winning by a landslide. And Donald Trump, inarguably a tried-and-true New Yorker, committed a sacrilege when he took Sarah Palin out for slice of real New York pizza…to Famiglia’s, a mediocre chain that far from represents a real taste of New York. Trump’s city credentials were questioned further – and nearly revoked — when he proceeded to eat his slice with a fork. There’s a reason pizza-by-the-slice is most always served on waxed paper – it’s because you’re supposed to eat it with your hands. And half the joy in eating a slice of classic New York-style Margherita is getting a little tomato-tinted oil on your fingers. It’s not always pretty. If you haven’t preemptively cured a hangover by eating a $1.00 slice from a tiny pizzeria at 4:00 am – well, then you just haven’t lived.
Image Courtesy of Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Pope Francis deserves to live life to the fullest! Fittingly enough, pizza was once considered “poor-man’s food,” and Francis is known for his concern for impoverished people, opting to live in the Vatican’s guest quarters rather than the papal residence. In fact, he chose the papal name Francis after St. Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of the poor.
Pope Francis has broken numerous barriers in his espousing of forgiveness, acceptance, and dialogue and has become one of the most popular Popes in world history. Among American Catholic churchgoers, according to a recent Pew Research poll, 95 percent give him favorable ratings. Seventy percent of Americans like him regardless of their religion, and two thirds of Americans with no religious affiliation (to include agnostics and atheists) have a positive opinion of Pope Francis. And certainly it must be because he likes them back. “The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience. Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience,” he said. In other words, people who don’t believe in God might still be able to get to Heaven — literally an unorthodox concept.
The Pope also last week announced a special Jubilee Year starting Dec. 8 to focus the church on forgiveness and mercy. It’s only the 27th time in the history of the Catholic Church that there has been a Holy Year. The last one was called by St. John Paul II in 2000 to mark the start of the third millennium.
But we digress. Our idea was this. If Pope Francis wants to casually visit a pizzeria, he should be able to do so. Sure, he’ll have a few thousand people with him, but it can be done. And we have just the opportunity for him: when he arrives in New York in September, he should celebrate the oncoming Jubilee and take a brief detour on his way into Manhattan from JFK, stopping into south Queens for a little snack. We’re certain that New Park or Aldo’s pizzerias will be most honored to serve him up a slice of something divine.
