Times recounts Pope’s call to Chicago bank’s customer service
May 07, 2026
» Continue to this story on New York Times
CWN Editor's Note: “Even the Vicar of Christ can be thwarted by a customer service representative,” The New York Times reported.
Father Thomas McCarthy, O.S.A., recounted that two months after his election as Pope, the Pontiff, using the name Robert Prevost, called a Chicago bank to update his account information. After he answered all of the security questions, the customer service representative told him that he would have to come into the bank in person for the changes to take effect. When he said that a visit was impossible because he was now the Pope, the representative hung up on him.
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