Before Pope Francis became God’s enforcer, he moonlighted as a nightclub bouncer.
His Holiness told parishioners recently that he held a variety of odd jobs before embracing the call of the priesthood.
As a college student in Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as he was known then, swept floors, ran tests in a chemical lab and even worked as bouncer to make extra cash, he said.
The pontiff detailed his roundabout path to the priesthood during a visit to a church near Rome, after a parishioner asked him to pray for a relative who was seeking to be a Franciscan friar.
The pope said he would pray that the friar wannabe will have “the perseverance to go forward, but also the courage to turn back if he understands that this is not the right path.”
The fresh revelations about Francis’ humble past added to his reputation as an everyman pope who has turned down many of the luxuries traditionally afforded to pontiffs.
Francis regaled worshippers before and after Mass on Sunday at the church of San Cirillo Alessandrino in a working-class district on the outskirts of Rome, the Catholic News Service reported.
He also recalled the nervous moments he endured after being elected pope on March 13, 2013, succeeding retired Pope Benedict XVI.
“Was I anxious? A little, yes, but everyone was nice. But it’s true, having a lot of people in front of you is a bit scary,” he said of his first Mass as pope. “[But now,] thank God, I feel really good. The Lord helped me be a priest, to be a bishop and now to be the pope.”
Before celebrating Mass on Sunday, he met with parents of newborns and urged them to be patient with their little ones.
“When we baptize them, we bring home not just our child but also a seed of divinity that we have to help grow,” he said.
“Patience with children is beautiful, just as it’s beautiful to talk with them and teach.”