11 Interesting Facts About Pope Francis

Pope Francis will be in Washington, D.C. in less than 24 hours and Popemania is sweeping the DC metro area. Here are some interesting fun facts about Pope Francis that you might be surprised to learn:

• He was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio and went by Jorge (which is “George” in English). He gets his “pope name” from Saint Francis of Assisi of Italy. He was formerly archbishop of Buenos Aires and became Pope Francis March 13, 2013.
• His zodiac sign is Sagittarius. He was born Dec. 17, 1936.
• Even though he grew up in Buenos Aires, his ancestors were Italian.
• He sometimes speaks softly due to surgery he had on his lungs in 1956.
• He awakens at 4:30 a.m. each day and hits the hay most nights by 9 p.m.
• He’s a soccer fan, but doesn’t watch it on TV (says he hasn’t watched TV since 1990).
• He likes fresh-squeezed orange juice for breakfast; misses going out for pizza.
• His favorite film is Fellini’s “La Strada.” Chagall is one of his favorite painters. He enjoys Mozart and is a fan of the tango dance.
• He’s the first pope to decline the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace; instead he makes his home in Suite 201 of Domus Sanctae Marthae aka St. Martha’s House a guest house.
• He has his meals in a cafeteria-like setting.
• Pope Francis’ native language is Spanish, but he also speaks Latin, Italian, German, French, Portuguese and English.

Some of the above information is from the Vatican, Biography.com and featured in stories on Pittsburgh’s TV station WTAE Web site and on Philly.com.

PHOTO of Pope Francis from his Twitter account: @Pontifex