Man apologises after hanging up on the Pope... twice!

Reuters

An Italian man has apologised to the Pope after he hung up on him twice because he believed he was a prank caller.

Pope Francis, who unlike any other Pope ever is making a habit of calling complete strangers out of the blue, even journalists, telephoned Franco Rabuffi on Monday to offer him consolation because he was unwell.

But Rabuffi put the phone down on him twice because he did not believe it was really the Pope.

Pope Francis did not give up however and called back a third time, at which point Rebuff decided to take the call.

"I was speechless but Francis came to my rescue, saying that what had happened was funny," Rebuff told the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano. Rabuffi then took his wife to the general audience with Pope Francis on Wednesday and apologised personally for hanging up on him.