Being Pope Francis has its perks.
The Pope found that out this week when a Naples pizzeria owner personally delivered a pie to him as his motorcade drove through the city.
The special delivery came from Enzo Cacialli, who made the thin-crust pizza with “Il Papa” spelled out in dough and topped with yellow cherry tomatoes, which CNN noted was an homage to the Vatican’s flag.
Video caught the moment when Enzo delivered the pizza to the Pope, showing the church leader reaching down and taking the pizza.
This isn’t the first time Cacialli family has made a pie for a world leader. When then-President Bill Clinton visited Naples more than 20 years ago, Enzo’s father delivered a specialty pizza to him.
Enzo said he wanted to do the same thing when he found out Pope Francis was visiting.
“It’s really hard for me to understand what I managed to do,” Cacialli said. “Giving a pizza you made with your own hands to the Pope is very emotional. It’s really hard for me to express the value of this gesture for a man we really love and value, for a beautiful person full of humanity.”
The act of accepting the pizza reinforced the notion of Pope Francis as something of the “People’s Pope,” who has made great efforts to reach beyond the traditional Roman Catholic audiences. Francis has spoken out on several progressive issues, including calling on the church to stop focusing entirely on issues like abortion and gay marriage.
Pope Francis has also reached out to other religions , calling on people of all faiths to band together and fight modern slavery and human trafficking .
“All of us are called (by God) to be free, all are called to be sons and daughters, and each, according to his or her own responsibilities, is called to combat modern forms of enslavement. From every people, culture and religion, let us join our forces.”
But Pope Francis has still maintained the church’s teachings, which include opposition to gay marriage.
“The family is also threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage,” the pope said during a trip to the Philippines, hours after warning that the Filipino society was “tempted by confusing presentations of sexuality, marriage and the family.”
“As you know, these realities are increasingly under attack from powerful forces which threaten to disfigure God’s plan for creation and betray the very values which have inspired and shaped all that is best in your culture.”
There was no word on what Pope Francis thought of his special pizza.
[Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images]
