The Pope calls his bank's customer service but nobody believes him

Can you be the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion people worldwide (over 17.7% of the global population) and get caught up in passwords and security questions from your bank's customer service? That's what happened to Leo XIV, "victim" of a customer service worker at his own bank in a story told by the New York Times that sounds a lot like a joke.

About two months after his election as Pontiff on 8 May 2025, Robert Francis Prevost telephoned his bank in the United States, as reported by a close friend of his, Father Tom McCarthy, at a meeting of the US Catholic faithful. The new pontiff introduced himself under his secular name Robert Prevost, saying he wanted to change the phone number and address registered with the bank.

Pope Leo correctly answered all questions from the bank's customer service department. At that point, the woman on the phone told him that it was not enough and that he would have to go to the branch in person. "He replied, 'Well, I won't be able to do that,'" Father McCarthy recounted in a video shared on social media. The pontiff then tried to explain: "Would it change anything if I told you I was Pope Leo?" he asked, again according to Father McCarthy's account. The woman hung up.

The story has a happy ending: the matter was resolved thanks to the intervention of another priest who had contacts with the bank president, Father McCarthy recounted. There is no news of the customer service operator who had interrupted the call with the bank's most famous customer. "Could you imagine being known as the woman who hung up on the Pope?" said Father McCarthy.

Immediately after his election, Pope Leo is also said to have telephoned the Ior, asking if he could keep his personal current account after his appointment as Pontiff. This is what we learn from sources inside the Pope's bank, which, however, do not reveal whether or not a technical solution was found to accommodate the Pontiff's request.