NZ Herald Afternoon Headlines | Thursday May 14, 2026
Pope Leo XIV was reportedly hung up on by a customer service representative at his bank after she believed his call was a prank.
Roughly two months into his papacy, Pope Leo XIV called his hometown bank in Chicago while he was in Rome with the help of his brother,John Prevost, who told the story on CNN show OutFront last week.
Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Prevost, the first American to head the Catholic Church, needed to update his phone number attached to his bank account, John Prevost recalled.
John Prevost called the bank and talked to the teller for a moment before transferring the call to his brother.
Pope Leo XIV told the teller he wanted to change his phone number because he had moved to Rome and no longer lived in Peru where he had worked for decades.
The teller then asked him security questions, like his bank account number, social security number and former address.
“It went on so long, I said to her, ‘You know ma’am, it might be helpful for you to know you’re talking to my brother who’s in Rome right now. You’re speaking with the Pope’,” he told CNN.
“And she said, ‘Oh really?’ And hung up. And that was the end of the call.”
Earlier this week, Trump accused the Pope of “endangering the lives of a lot of Catholics” because of his stance on the Iran conflict, the Independent reported.
In reply, the Pope said, “The Church’s mission is to share the gospel and to promote peace.”
Even Vice-President JD Vance, a Catholic himself, has effectively told the Pope to stay out of politics.
“It would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on in the Catholic church and let the President of the United States stick to dictating American public policy,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News.
