Man Hangs Up Phone on Pope Francis Twice, Thinking Call was a Prank

An Italian man, thinking the person who had been calling him was an impostor, reportedly hung up the phone not once but twice on Pope Francis.

Franco Rabuffi said he thought he was being subjected to prank calls as he could not believe the highest leader of the 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church would even attempt to contact him.

Rabuffi disconnected the Pope's call twice but took him seriously when the Pope called him again for the third time.

"I was speechless but Pope Francis came to my rescue, saying that what had happened was funny," Rabuffi told the Vatican newspaper, l'Osservatore Romano.

The Pope called Rabuffi to give words of comfort to the sick man. There was no information on Rabuffi's age or sickness.

Rabuffi attended the Vatican's general audience last week with his wife to personally apologize to the Pope for his obviously unintended mistake.

The Pope often contacts strangers who send letters to him or those whose problems he learns about. Calls made by the Pope make it to the news headlines when the matter discussed takes a controversial turn.

One call made by the Pope to an ordinary Catholic became controversial when the pontiff allegedly said a woman "living in sin" with a divorced man should be allowed to take the Holy Communion.

Jacqui Lisbona, an Argentinian like the Pope, wrote to him, saying she had been saddened after her local priest prohibited her from taking the Communion because she married a divorcee in a civil ceremony that is not recognized by the Church.

She was told that she was "living in sin" with her spouse even if they have been married already for almost two decades and have two teenage daughters.

Lisbona said the Pope told her: "A divorcee who takes communion is not doing anything wrong." Pope Francis was quoted as saying that "there are some priests who are more papist than the Pope."

The Roman Catholic Church has long imposed a ban on remarried people and divorcees from taking the Holy Sacrament. This has been a contentious issue pitting conservative and liberal members of the Church.

The Vatican initially declined to comment on the woman's phone conversation with the Pope. The Pontiff's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, later said the Pope's phone calls are private and that what Pope Francis allegedly told Lisbona should not be seen as a shift in Church teachings.

"Consequences relating to the teaching of the Church are not to be inferred from these occurrences," Lombardi said.