“Papa’s got a brand new bag”

  Photo: Paul Haring/CNS

That’s the irresistible headline to this blog post from Tuesday by CNS’s Carol Glatz, describing the perfect gift the Holy Father received over the weekend:

Parishioners in Rome gave Pope Francis a brand new black bag in the hopes that it would hold up for many years of traveling and serving as the successor of St. Peter.

We hope that you have a long and fruitful pontificate, therefore, we thought that the bag you have may not be enough,” Father Renzo Chiesa told the pope.

The pope got the gift when he went to hear confessions and celebrate Mass at the church of St. Gregory the Great in the outskirts of Rome this Sunday.

Father Chiesa told the pope that they stuffed the bag full of letters and notes from parishioners so as “not to clog up the Vatican post office” with more mail for the pope.

The bag is practically identical to the one the pope carries along with him on trips outside the Vatican.

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