Surprise exit of Pope Francis from the Vatican this evening to go to the center of Rome, where at 7.00 pm he was seen entering a record shop near the Pantheon.
The owners have been his longtime friends, ever since Jorge Mario Bergoglio came to Rome before becoming Pope. The Vatican Press Office reports to ANSA that the occasion of today's visit was "to bless the renovated restaurant".
The Pope stayed in the shop for just under a quarter of an hour before returning to the Vatican.
The owners gave him a classical music record.
The owner of the 'Stereosound' shop spoke of "a visit full of humanity" and "an immense emotion", and explained that the current Pontiff was already a customer of the shop in Via della Minerva since he first came to Rome as simple priest and then as archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Francesco had promised several times that he would return to visit the owners and today he took the opportunity to give a blessing to the renovated restaurant.
The presence of the Pope in the shop was noted by the Spanish Vaticanist Javier Martínez-Brocal, director of the Rome Reports agency, who passed by there in the late afternoon and filmed Bergoglio's exit with a white envelope under his arm - the disco given to him by shopkeepers -, and spread the images on Twitter.
A surprise pope in a record shop in the center of Rome
