Pope Francis Continues Outreach, Blesses Male Stripper’s Parrot

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis holds a green parrot named Amore that was offered to him by his owner, Francesco Lombardi, during his weekly general audience in St. ... In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis holds a green parrot named Amore that was offered to him by his owner, Francesco Lombardi, during his weekly general audience in St. Peter square at the Vatican Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014. After his dove release went terribly awry on Sunday, Francis gladly blessed the parrot and took the bird for a few seconds on his finger. The scene wasn’t so peaceful on Sunday, when children flanking Francis set free two white doves from his studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. The birds were soon attacked by a crow and seagull. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho) MORE LESS
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Following last weekend’s disastrous peace doves release, Pope Francis on Wednesday blessed a parrot that turned out to belong to a male stripper.

The pontiff initially passed the green parrot, named Amore, while making the rounds of St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile for his weekly general audience, according to ABC News. He eventually made his way back to bless the bird.

Italian news service ANSA identified the parrot’s owner as Francesco Lombardi, a former male stripper and town council leader in Northern Italy who now acts in erotic films.

“It was fun. A sort of mixing of the holy and the profane,” Lombardi told ANSA of meeting the pope, adding that the bird parroted the crowd’s chants of “Papa.”

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