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Popes who guide the Church also have hobbies, pet peeves, and virtues. Here are a few of them — many reported in the book in Italian, Anche in Vaticano... Aneddoti, curiosità, facezie sui papi del XX secolo (“Even in the Vatican: Anecdotes, trivia, facetiousness regarding the popes of the 20th century,” by an anonymous author).
Pius IX and the cello
Leo XIII and hunting
Leo XIII (Gioacchino Pecci) was passionate about the Latin language. He also enjoyed the great outdoors through walking and hunting. He didn’t leave them behind when he moved into the Vatican. In fact, he even liked to trap birds in the Vatican Gardens, although he released them afterwards.
Pius X and music
When someone asked Pius X (Giuseppe Sarto), “How is your Holiness?” he liked to answer, “Like a Pope.”
Thanks in part to his passion for music, Pius X gave a remarkable impulse to sacred music and liturgy.
Benedict XV and punctuality
Benedict XV (Giacomo Della Chiesa) liked heraldry and was very punctual. He used to give watches as gifts to those close to him, telling them, “Take this, so you have no excuse for being late.”
Pius XI and mountaineering
Pope Pius XI (Achille Ratti) was a passionate mountaineer. He was even more devoted to it than John Paul II: he climbed several Alpine peaks and was the first, on June 31, 1889, to reach the summit of Monte Rosa by scaling its eastern wall.
Pius XII and his canaries
Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli), when he wasn’t devoting himself to his collection of illuminated codices, played the violin or took care of his beloved birds, which he kept free in his office. They were two canaries, which he had embalmed when they died.
The good and “walking” Pope
John XXIII (Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli) was known as the “good pope” or the “parish priest of the world.” He used to leave the Vatican to visit the sick and the imprisoned or Roman parishes. He would also go farther afield to the shrines of Assisi and Loreto.
The people of Rome, who knew him for his friendly words of encouragement to those he met, affectionately called him “St. John Outside the Walls” (a play on the names of important Roman churches such as “St. Paul Outside the Walls,” built outside the historic city walls of Rome). Some indulged in more worldly humor, calling him “Johnny Walker.”
Paul VI, the collector of autographs
Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) was not only a great lover of painting and figurative arts. The book of papal anecdotes claims he was also an expert in mathematics and was actively involved in the encryption of messages that the Holy See sent to nuncios all over the world.
Despite his formal and apparently cold public appearance, Montini was passionate. With childlike enthusiasm, the Supreme Pontiff collected autographs of famous people. The unusual pontifical collection included Benito Mussolini, Leo Tolstoy, and other important figures of his time. All these documents are preserved today in the Vatican Library.
John Paul I, literature and bocce
John Paul I (Albino Luciani) had a pontificate of only 33 days because of his sudden death. When he got up in the morning, he opened the windows of his bedroom to let the air and the sun in. In his free time he enjoyed playing bocce, an Italian game similar to bowling. He was a great lover of books, and published a book of letters to famous personages from history and literature.
John Paul II, a man of sports
John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) was a man of action, a soccer goalkeeper in his youth and a good skier.
The mountains were an absolute passion which, on one occasion (surrounded by photographers) he shared with Sandro Pertini, seventh president of the Italian Republic. Shortly after his election, he asked for a swimming pool to be built for him at Castel Gandolfo, which he made available to all his staff. To those who objected that such an action was a waste of money, he replied ironically, “A lot less than would be spent electing a new pontiff.”
Benedict XVI, who loved cats and the piano
Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) loved cats, drank orange juice at both lunch and dinner, and listened with great emotion to Mozart and Beethoven.
He also played the piano very well. He once said, “I thank God for having placed music next to me almost as a traveling companion. It has always offered me comfort and joy.” He didn't play sports or talk about having favorite sports teams.
