VATICAN CITY (AP) — In the streets around the Vatican, where Pope Francis used to make impromptu outings, some of the shopkeepers are mourning the man they knew, not as the leader of a church or head of state, but as an ordinary person. They prayed for him while he was hospitalized, and now they miss him dearly.
“He had been our regular customer for more than seven years,” said Sebastian Padrón, an Argentine ice cream maker whose store is located around the corner from Francis’ austere hotel room in Vatican City. He recalled how close he and his family felt to Francis, who often gave gifts to his children.
“The memory is wonderful, which is why it hurts so much,” he told The Associated Press on Thursday. Francis had a notorious sweet tooth, and Padrón’s dulce de leche ice cream, a typical Argentine caramel dessert, became the pope’s favorite.
When Francis became pope in 2013, he opted to live in the Domus Santa Marta hotel rather than the lavish papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace, overlooking St. Peter’s Square. The choice spoke to his aversion to luxury, and an eagerness to mix with the masses. He moved around Rome in an ordinary hatchback and popped into stores to buy shoe insoles, change eyeglass lenses and buy recordings of classical music and tango from his native Argentina. He had lamented his inability to walk about freely as he did in Buenos Aires.
“I met a man who was full of smiles, very friendly,” said Raniero Mancinelli, a Roman tailor who sold the basic pectoral cross that Francis wore for decades. Mancinelli, who was tailor to the last three popes, said that, unlike his predecessors, Francis wanted everything to be simple, practical and inexpensive.
Mancinelli said he sold Francis a cardinal’s sash before the conclave that eventually elected him pope. He recalled Francis’ words upon learning the price of the garment:
“Raniero, you’re a bit of a thief, you’re a bit expensive.” The rest of his scarlet cardinal’s outfit, Francis regularly said, was a hand-me-down from his predecessor as archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Francis caused havoc among tourists and Romans several times when he showed up at an optician’s shop in Rome’s historic center.
Luca Spiezia, who owns the store with his father, remembered his surprise at the pope introducing himself simply as “Francesco” when they met in 2015. Offered a new pair of glasses, Francis declined, asking only for new lenses in his old frames and insisting on paying for the work.
“He never made you feel that he was a powerful figure in the world, even though he was the head of the church,” Spiezia said. “I hope that this will be continuing with the next pope.”