No, Bank Customer Service Doesn't Care That You're the Pope

Even popes, it seems, can't bypass the "please visit your local branch" rule. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the Chicago native elected Pope Leo XIV last year, recently called his US bank to update his phone number and address, a friend recounted at a Catholic gathering in Naperville, Illinois. According to the Rev. Tom McCarthy, the pontiff correctly answered all the security questions, only to be told he'd have to show up in person, reports the New York Times. When he explained that wasn't possible and finally volunteered, "Would it matter to you if I told you I'm Pope Leo?" the customer-service rep ended the call.

McCarthy, an Augustinian priest who has known Leo XIV since their South Side Chicago days, confirmed the story and said the snafu was ultimately cleared up through another priest with ties to the bank's president. The Vatican hasn't commented, and there's no word on whether the employee ever learned she had hung up on the head of the Roman Catholic Church—though McCarthy quips, "Could you imagine being known as the woman who hung up on the pope?" Read the full story at the Times.