Pope Francis, 85, visited a record store near the Patheon named Stereo Sound on Tuesday, January 11th.
The trip was supposed to remain secret but a local journalist named Javier Martinez Brocal witnessed the event by chance. He filmed Pope Francis leaving the store using his phone, and posted the video on Twitter.
El Papa, en una tienda de discos de Roma pic.twitter.com/U1KfQarb6R
— Javier Martínez-Brocal (@javierMbrocal) January 11, 2022
Francis sent a letter to Brocal congratulating him on his work while also saying he misses being able to travel unnoticed. He wrote, “One cannot deny that it was a ‘terrible fate’ (a misfortune, ed.) that, after taking all precautions, there was a journalist waiting for someone at the cab stop.” He clarified this statement, writing, “We must not lose our senses of our humor.”
It was later found out that the record store owners were friends with the Pope back when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires. He came to purchase records and CDs and bless their shop. Speaking to The Associated Press, store co-owner Tiziana Espositoater said, “he walked in the shop and it was an amazing meeting. As he promised, he blessed the shop.”
The pope ended up not making any purchase. He was instead gifted a set of classical CDs by the owners, the exact artists and composers of which are unknown.
