Papal Hang-Up

 

by Pa Rock

Angry Old Crank

Prior to his promotion to Pope of the Catholic Church on May 8, 2025, Cardinal Robert Prevost (aged 69 at the time) was a resident of Chicago, Illinois, the city of his birth.  Not long after his ascension to the Papacy and the adoption of the name Leo XIV, the new Pope phoned the branch bank on Chicago's South Side where he routinely had done his banking.  He told the nice lady who answered the phone that he had moved overseas and needed to change his contact information.  She ran him through a list of security questions, all of which he answered correctly, and then told her caller that he would still have to appear in person at the branch office in Chicago to make the change official.  

There are two different versions as to what happened at that point.  One story goes that the Pope asked the lady on the phone if it would make any difference if he told her that he was Pope Leo - and she promptly hung up on the Pontiff, thinking she was being pranked.  The other version is that the Pope's brother was also participating in the call, and that he asked if it would make any difference if she knew she was talking to Pope Leo - and she hung up in that version also.    Eventually the Pope called a muckety-muck in the US Catholic hierarchy and he called the bank's president who was able to resolve the matter.

Don't take it personally, Leo.    Old people are routinely disrespected and shunted aside by petty tyrants manning the phones for major corporations.  I've been fighting these battles ever since I retired nearly fifteen years ago.  The older you get, the less courtesy you receive from soulless bureaucrats over the phone.  If you think the bank experience was frustrating, God help you when you have to deal with an insurance company!

But stay calm.  I'll be praying for you!

Your buddy, Pa Rock