Happy 82nd Birthday, Pope Francis! Ad Multos Annos…
For the Holy Father’s birthday, December 17, he will enjoy a mango-variety birthday cake made by the gelateria Hedera, a few blocks from the Vatican on Borgo Pio, who now traditionally makes the Pope’s birthday cake.
For the Pope’s 81st birthday, he also enjoyed a Hedera cake, and celebrated with children and pizza, from the Santa Marta Pediatric Dispensary, the same group he met in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall yesterday, before his Sunday Angelus.
Today, the Pope is receiving greetings from all over the world, through social networks, letters, official messages, and in numerous languages.
Vatican institutes, such as the Vatican Library, through social media, extended their wishes through them. Various Embassies to the Holy See also wished the Pope from Argentina a Happy Birthday on Twitter.
President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, sent a message to the Pope welcoming his invitation to “face with courage and justice, the challenges of today, calling for dialogue and understanding to heal social wounds and lead people to the reconciliation.”
Vatican Media posted a video containing alternating images of Pope Francis, from his youth to the present, and best wishes by Vatican employees in English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, German, French, English, and Portuguese.
