Salt Lake Tribune · Sep 22, 2018
Pope Francis quips ‘I am the devil’ next to John Paul
(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Pope Francis salutes as he arrives for his weekly general audience, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018.Vilnius, Lithuania • Pope Francis has acknowledged that his reputation pales a bit compared to St. John Paul II — at least as far as Poles are concerned.
Greeting journalists Saturday en route to Lithuania, Francis was given a book about the former pope by Polish photographer Grzegorz Galazka. Receiving the large book with a beaming John Paul on the cover, Francis quipped: “[Pope John Paul II] was a saint, I am the devil.”
Laughing, Galazka immediately corrected him: “No, you are both saints! You are both saints!”