Have you heard the story of how the late Pope Francis personally tried to book a regular flight ticket to Lampedusa shortly after becoming pope on 13 March, 2013? Well, not quite the holy welcome you would expect, as the airline staff did not believe it was the Pope on the other end of the line and hung up, convinced it was a prank.

Now his successor, Pope Leo XIV, is dealing with his own humble-pope problems.

See, two months after the Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost became the first American pope in May 2025, he personally called his old bank in South Chicago, USA. He reportedly wanted to update his phone number and address now that he was living in the Vatican.

Despite identifying himself as Robert Prevost and answering every security question correctly, the Pope was still told by the customer service representative that he had to appear in person at the branch.

“Sorry, sir, it says here you’ll have to come in person,” said the customer service representative of the unnamed US bank.

“I’m not going to be able to do that,” the Pope replied.

After some back-and-forth, he finally dropped the line, “Would it matter to you if I told you I’m Pope Leo?”

Bang! She hung up on the Pope out of frustration, thinking it was a prank call.

The story comes straight from his longtime friend, Rev. Tom McCarthy, who shared it with a laughing crowd in Naperville, Illinois. McCarthy later confirmed it’s true.

In the end, a local priest had to go to the bank in person, and the issue was sorted out.

So next time you’re on a call with customer service and getting absolutely nowhere, you are not alone; the pope is there with you. And just a quick one, if you picked up a call from Robert Francis Prevost, would you ever guess who you’re really speaking to?