It was just over two years ago, in February 2011. It was St. Valentine’s Day, in fact. Maybe that should’ve been a tip-off that there was something different about the bed and room that night. My wife and I were in Rome, wrapping up a quick weekend trip to Lecce and I had managed to book a forced overnight on the return, allowing us to visit with a friend of ours in Rome. It was there that the awesome happened.
We were staying as guests in the lodgings adjacent to San Silvestro in Capite, a minor basilica in Rome. The church itself was incredible to see and our room was also quite nice. It was certainly not ornate; actually rather sparsely furnished. The lack of furnishings actually make it appear even bigger, I suppose, as did the high ceilings.
But the best part of the story came just over 2 years later when I got an email from my friend and our host there. It turns out that Pope Francis had a close connection to an Argentine priest who was affiliated with San Silvestro. A quick check of their archives indicates that, over the years, Jorge Mario Bergoglio visited his colleague in Italy a few times and on at least one of those visits he stayed in the guest room at San Silvestro, the same room my wife and I were in on our quick visit.
And so there it is: February 14, 2011 was the night we slept in the same bedroom as the new Pope.
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Wow, big stretch. You should just throw in SEO terms in every article you write.
Of course it is a stretch. It is also a joke, and a good opportunity to remember a great trip I had a couple years ago. There’s no way one random reference to the Pope is going to have any effect on my SEO rankings. If it does then I’m horribly disappointed in the way those folks write their algorithms.
What a cool story!
Why a stretch. Pretty cool, actually. Wonder if Bergoglio did his trip on points too?
That’s awesome!
Definitely a cool story. Thanks for sharing. This is why I always read your blog while I have given up on so many others. You rock.
But where are the CC referrals? Thanks for chewing out TPG earlier today. That Jason guy of his is really a douchebag.
PS – In case it isn’t obvious, I don’t think you were going for SEO with this post.
Settle down, there, abcx.
And this was a mileage run, LarryInNYC. I earned points on it. 🙂
Neat story! I always think little connections to things are one of the best parts of traveling.
I thought this was going to be a childhood story. 😉
@Tom: Ouch 😉
Great story Seth.