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The Vatican Censored Pope Francis' Joke About Whisky In New Documentary

The Vatican Censored Pope Francis' Joke About Whisky In New Documentary

The Holy Father called whisky 'the real water of life'

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

The Vatican has censored footage of Pope Francis in which he receives a bottle of whisky and refers to it as 'the real water of life', according to the makers of a new documentary film.

Il Papa was filmed receiving a lovely bottle of Oban single malt Scotch whisky from a load of Scottish student priests as part of a new documentary about the Scots College in Rome.

Basically, a load of young priests in training offered up the bottle to Pope Francis during the film, and he was so pleased by it that he made an off the cuff remark that those in The Vatican later deemed could caused offence, and asked for it to be removed from the documentary.

Solus Productions, who created the film, had given them final say on what was included in return for the access they got, so it had to come out when they asked.

PA

Tony Kearney, who directed Priest School, followed the Scottish seminarians over the course of 18 months between 2018 and 2019.

He told the Daily Record: "We filmed the students meeting with the Pope in the Apostolic Palace. One of them was tasked with giving the Pope a bottle of malt, because they know he likes whisky.

"He was really down to earth with them all and when they handed him the bottle, instead of just handing it to his assistant as he normally would with a gift, he held it up and said 'Questa e la vera acqua santa', which means 'This is the real holy water'.

"He guffawed with laughter and it was a real ice-breaker with the students and put everyone at ease.

"But we'd agreed that the Vatican's media office would be allowed to approve all of our footage before we broadcast it. So we sent them the files and when they sent it back, that bit of him saying that was cut out.

"We were really annoyed at first, but they insisted they didn't want the Pope to be seen to be endorsing whisky. I think it's quite funny how guarded his image is."

Daily Record

To be fair, it's only a joke. A lot of Catholics might be happy to see that Papa Francesco still has a sense of humour despite the seriousness of his job.

Kearney continued: "Francis is ripping up the rule book, he's ahead of the curve, and the flunkies around about him need to catch up.

"We've managed to get rare access into an ancient Scottish institution and what it's like to train as a priest - we've never seen it before.

"These are down to earth, ordinary blokes who like a drink, like the football and live ordinary lives. It smashes the mystery."

Let's hope the Holy Father enjoyed his wee dram, eh?

Featured Image Credit: Daily Record

Topics: TV and Film, Food And Drink, UK Entertainment, Weird