Portrait of Pope as just a regular guy

Pope Francis AP FILE PHOTO

BUENOS AIRES—Pope Francis, who’s earning a reputation as a pretty regular guy as far as Pontiffs go, had the courtesy to phone his newspaper vendor back home in Argentina and cancel his subscription.

Kiosk owner Daniel del Regno told AFP Tuesday that when Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio left Buenos Aires for Rome in late February to get ready for the conclave gathering to pick the new pope, he said he would be back in three weeks or so.

Del Regno said that after the archbishop of Buenos Aires was elected pontiff, he planned to ask local church officials what to do with the new pope’s subscription to the daily La Nacion.

“But he beat me to it because he called to cancel it, saying he was staying in Rome,” said the 36-year-old Del Regno, who had been delivering the paper to the archbishop’s office since 2005.

He said their relationship was not just commercial but personal. The archbishop baptized Del Regno’s son in June of last year on a church feast day, that of Corpus Cristi.

“And imagine how busy he must have been that day,” the vendor said.