To celebrate his seventieth birthday last week, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn invited 50 homeless people to lunch. In the middle of lunch, one of his guests’ mobile phones rang, at which point the guest gave a pre-arranged sign for all the others gathered at the table to burst into “Viva il Papa”. The phone was then handed to the cardinal. To Schönborn’s great surprise, it was Pope Francis, who had called to wish him many happy returns of the day. The guests had
29 January 2015, The Tablet
Birthday surprise
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