ACI Prensa Staff, 23 April, 2025 / 1:55 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis, baptized as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, celebrated his patron saint’s feast day every April 23. The patron saint’s day of the pope is a holiday at the Vatican and Pope Francis usually celebrated it with acts of charity toward people in need.
The patron saint of the late pontiff, St. George, is credited with protecting the papacy and is also known as an intercessor in the fight against evil.
Pope Francis was known to take every opportunity to celebrate special occasions with the poorest, as was also the case on his birthday, when he often invited hundreds of them to dine with him at the Vatican.
In 2018, the Holy Father surprised the world with his unusual gesture of distributing ice cream to the poor of Rome to celebrate St. George’s feast day.
On that occasion, with the help of the apostolic almoner, nearly 3,000 servings of ice cream were distributed in the city’s soup kitchens. This initiative set the tone for subsequent celebrations of St. George’s feast day.
