Pope had a common touch, says Vatican expert who shared football joke with him

Belfast Telegraph - 21/04
Pope Francis’s “common touch” and ability to connect easily with people is a huge loss to the Catholic Church, said an expert who recalled sharing a football joke with the pontiff.

Professor Anna Rowlands, who spent two years seconded to the Vatican during his papacy, said the religious leader had roared with laughter when she told him she was a Manchester United fan the first time they spoke at length.

The professor of Catholic social thought and practice at Durham University said his natural approach was to “find a point of human connection” with whoever he was speaking to.

She told the PA news agency: “He wanted to know what football team I supported, and I said that I was from Manchester, and so I was a genuine, bona fide Mancunian, Manchester United fan by origin, to which he just sort of roared laughing and turned to his aide and said, ‘you see, she must have a sense of humour’.

“And that was the first extended conversation I’d ever had with him. So his nature was to tease you slightly and to be good-humoured, and find a point of human connection with you.

“I’m a theologian. He was known for not particularly liki...
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