Francis on the cover of Rolling Stone. “He’s a Pop pope”

Mar 10, 2017

ROME: A photo of the Pope giving his thumb up opens the issue of the Italian March edition. “He says things of such common sense that his loneliness begins to be palpable”

Francis is ever more “alone” and yet he is very ’pop’. With these words, the March issue of Rolling Stone defines Francis on the front cover and in featured article on his visit to Milan.

The Italian edition of the music, politics and pop culture magazine, explains the choice of putting the Pope on the front page (so far it has only happened in the US edition, in 2014, again with Jorge Mario Bergoglio) with the fact that “the Pope He says things of such common sense that his loneliness begins to be palpable”. The cover story of the magazine will be available in newsstands on March 9.

The Bishop of Rome appears in the photo giving the thumbs up: “he’s like homemade bread,” film director Ermanno Olmi says in an interview with Rolling Stone on his latest film on Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini. “You see, I’m one of you” - describe a Pope that shows himself for what he is. First, close to people.

Rolling Stone has also interviewed some boys from the ’white houses’ in the Trecca district that Pope Bergoglio will visit while in Milan on March 25: “They seem to come out of a street rap video and yet they have become accustomed to simplicity, even if it seems impossible to see a future from where they are. Maybe some help could come from a Pope who claims “Reality is best seen from the periphery rather than the center”?

The magazine also includes an interview with Father Antonio Spadaro, director of Civiltà Cattolica.

For Francis, March 25 in Milan will be “a historic day: from the suburban homes to the cathedral, from the San Vittore prisons to “Parco di Monza”. There is high anticipation for the meeting where the Pope will ask young people to “make noise“

Rolling Stone celebrates Francis, a Pope “ who has won over all young people with his words of attention for weakest and poorest, with his tones that are close to the common people, with a manner that is popular, indeed pop - He is “a Pope who really seems suited to our times.”--La Stampa