Italy Records Hottest Temperature, Pope Francis Sends 15 Thousand Ice Cream To Inmates In Two Prisons

Pope Francis. (Wikimedia Commons/Xonn)

JAKARTA - Pope Francis again spread his love, when he delivered tens of thousands of ice cream to two prisons in Rome, in the midst of a scorching summer in Italy.

Quoting Reuters on September 8, the Vatican said Pope Francis sent around 15,000 ice creams to prisoners serving time in two prisons in the city of Rome, Italy.

The Pope's charity office said in a statement that tens of thousands of ice creams were sent to the old Regina Coeli prison, which is located on the side of the Tiber River in the center of Rome. As well as the more modern Rebibbia prison on the outskirts of town.

The ice cream was delivered in the name of Pope Francis by Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, who is known as the 'Almoner' or one who distributes alms to the poor.

This summer will be different for Italy, where the Land of Pizza recorded one of the hottest on record when a city in Sicily reported temperatures there reaching 49 degrees Celsius in August.

This is not the first time Pope Francis started his pontificate on March 13, 2013 distributing ice cream. In 2018, to be exact, Monday 23 April when Pope Francis distributed 3,000 servings of ice cream.

Ice cream illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Maksym Kozlenko)

Through his charity office, Pope Francis delivers the ice cream to the homeless and people in need of shelters, soup kitchens, health facilities and baths for the homeless in Rome, Italy.

Pope Francis, who loves the homeless and the poor, also commemorated the first World Day of the Poor in 2017, by holding a special mass with 7,000 poor people in St. Peter's Square, followed by treating them to gourmet lunches at the Vatican and the Pontifical Universities in Rome. .

Does Pope Francis also like ice cream or gelato? What flavor does he like? The answer, of course, is that the Pope also loves ice cream. Launching the National Catholic Reporter August 14, 2020, Pope Francis' favorite taste was revealed.

In an interview with radio station R101, owner of an ice cream parlor on the Italian Adriatic Coast, Maria Grazia Magrini sent a selection of ice cream packages to the Vatican with the three most popular flavours, custard, vanilla and coffee. Pope Francis contacted him and thanked him for the message.

"Thank you for thinking of me. Your gelato is really good," Pope Francis said, as quoted by Magrini. Speaking for 15 minutes, Magrini did not want to reveal the length of their conversation. However, among the ice creams delivered, Pope Francis said he had his favorite flavour, coffee.