Skip To Content

    Pope Francis Blesses Male Stripper's Talking Parrot

    The bird said "papa" (the Italian word for "pope") when he perched on the pontiff's hand.

    Pope Francis made friends with a parrot named Amore during his general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday.

    The parrot's owner, Francesco "Ghyblj" Lombardi, presented his bird to Pope Francis after the pope blessed his 1-year-old daughter.

    Lombardi said that the bird squawked the word "papa" (the Italian word for "pope") when he stepped onto the pope's hand.

    He told Italian news agency ANSA that Pope Francis called Amore "a beautiful gift from God."

    "It was fun," Lombardi, a former male stripper, said. "A sort of mixing of the holy and the profane. I am a world champion stripper and have the leading role in (erotic filmmaker) Tinto Brass's next movie."

    The moment was particularly poignant as the pope chose the name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.

    Watch pope meet parrot in this video clip — if you listen closely, you can hear the bird saying, "Papa" around the 13-second mark.

    Vatican / Via youtube.com