VIDEO: Pope Stops to Give His Pal A Lift in the Popemobile

There's a lot of love out there for the current pope, and a lot of it is because of stories like this. The man hailed for bringing a bit of the common touch back to the Church set protocol aside earlier today in order to take an old friend for a spin. Fabian Baez, a priest from Pope Francis’ hometown in Buenos Aires was in the crowd for the weekly audience. As soon as Francis spotted his old pal, he asked Vatican guards to help Father Benz jump a barricade and join him on the Popemobile. Father Baez proceeded to accompany Francis on his tour through St. Peter’s Square. He later laughed to reporters; “I said to myself ’What am I doing here? Mamma mia!”’ Since his election last March Pope Francis has been held in high regard across the globe. He boasts a notably more smiple style than his predecessors, opting for a modest apartment in a Vatican guest house instead of the luxurious papal suite and driving a Ford Focus instead of the traditional Mercedes limousine. One of his first acts as pope was to abolish the bonuses paid to Vatican employees upon the election of a new pope, opting instead to donate the money, which amounted to millions, to charity. In December, TIME magazine named him Person of the Year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg3NWI_T4dE&feature=player_embedded