BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

One advantage of starting my Forum 'workday' late is that by the time I get around to posting, some stories in the Italian media have already made it to the Anglophone media, which spares me from having to translate, picking up bits and pieces... Anyway, this is more a harmless fantasy than fact, though it would be nice if something like this happened once in a while.

'Hungry Pope sneaks out
for a snack' - or did he?



ROME, June 16 - Pope Benedict XVI reportedly snuck out of the Vatican in secret to enjoy a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant.

The Pontiff, who is normally guarded by a huge security entourage, reportedly tucked in to a fish dinner in a small, family restaurant 150 yards from the Vatican walls, Italian media reported today.

He apparently timed his unofficial trip to coincide with the Italian soccer team's first World Cup game against Paraguay so that he could slip unnoticed through the empty streets as locals concentrated on the game.

The claims, confirmed by a shocked waiter, were the subject of fevered speculation in the Italian media after they first appeared in a gossip column yesterday.

However bosses at the Al Passetto di Borgo, reportedly one of Benedict's favorite dining haunts before his ascent to the papacy, dismissed the claims today, Italian news agency ANSA said.

The restaurant’s manager also scoffed at suggestions that the Pope would order sole, claiming the 83-year-old Pontiff preferred to eat spaghetti carbonara or German dishes.

"Vatican sources" also poured scorn on the suggestions, which appeared in the Italian paper, Il Foglio [a one-line mention in somebody's column], telling ANSA they were "entirely untrue".

The sources said there were no specific rules preventing the Pope from popping out for a bite to eat but said he had simply not chosen to do so since taking office.

However they told ANSA that his predecessor, John Paul II, had regularly 'escaped' the Vatican for walks in the countryside around Rome.

[The item faithfully reports what was said in the Italian papers.

Anyway, if the Pope wanted to eat a good sole dish, I'm sure the Memores could whip up one for him easily - or he could send out for it, even. One imagines, too, that he would much rather spend his spare time at the piano, or reading, or writing, than playing 'truant' for an hour!]