Pope returns to Rome hotel - to pay bill
2013-03-14 19:19
Vatican City - Pope Francis returned on Thursday to the church-run
residence where he was staying before becoming pontiff, and insisted on paying
the bill, despite now effectively being in charge of the business, the Vatican
said.
The morning after his election, Francis asked a driver to
take him to the clerics' hotel, the Domus Internationalis Paulus VI, where he
had stayed during the run-up to this week's secret electoral conclave.
"He wanted to get his luggage and the bags. He had
left everything there," a Vatican spokesperson told a news briefing.
"He then stopped in the office, greeted everyone and
decided to pay the bill for the room... because he was concerned about giving a
good example of what priests and bishops should do."
The spokesperson did not disclose the amount of the bill.
Jorge Bergoglio brought with him a reputation for
frugality from his native Argentina and is the first pope to take the name of
St Francis of Assisi, a gesture of solidarity with the poor.
Father Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, who lives in the central
Rome boarding house where Bergoglio had stayed, told Reuters he was surprised
the new pope had insisted on settling his account: "I don't think he needs
to worry about the bill," he said.
"The house is part of the church, and it's his church
now."
