I’m not understanding why they would do anything differently just because he’s the Pope. They shouldn’t have hung up on him but that’s the only customer service issue here.
Well, that's why it was his last-ditch effort, because it was unlikely to work.
But the reasoning is that many companies will go out of their way to help "VIPs" and may even have a separate team to handle them that has more discretion than normal front-line support staff would.
I'm curious to why does the Pope need a bank account at all. He's provided housing. He's fed and watered. His transportation is covered. He has a Swiss Guard security detail. For life.
He obviously had the account before he became Pope, but when he did become Pope, he had to change his residence to another country. In today's world, it does seem unreasonable for a bank to require somebody to make an international trip just to change a phone number. If he can prove that he already has access to the accounts, that ought to be enough.
Why would a bank require someone to go to a branch to change their phone number? I can change my contact info on the website for all the financial institutions I use.
The branch is the last place where a real person meets another real person. Even that person looks up everything on their terminal, and the whole thing is probably security theater, but I think having at least one physical backstop is a good idea.
My banks require physical presence for stuff like changing phone numbers and nominees. We get OTPs on our phones, so that makes perfect sense.
My mom works at a credit union and the staff are constantly saving people from scams just because the customer came in and the staff had a chance to notice something fishy happening.
All he needed to do was grab a mobile device, install the Mobile Banking App which is surely available in his region, and then get past Cloudflare/Anubis, sign into it with the credentials he set up beforehand, correctly answer the MFA challenges in the official Augustinian SIM or Augustinian Peruvian Outlook, and then poke around in the Settings gear or Profile Dropdown or tap his avatar or Contact info until he discovers it’s greyed out, then use the Customer Service chat where live agents are available in a Chicago timezone, and then the agent informs him they are powerless to update that info because the chat connection is 3rd party/unauthenticated, and please call our Customer Service phone number during Chicago hours.
Then he can recount his tale of woe before getting to the point where he is suddenly a public figure where everyone knows where he lives, his mother’s maiden name, the street where he grew up, his Kindergarten teacher, and all his donkeys’ names
Then he can post the PII update to X @pontifex and go viral
Why should it be an exception? Why is it a rule that he has to show up in person in the first place? What is the point of even having security questions if they don't trust them? Who, exactly, is changing their address to _Vatican City_ that will not require special handling _no matter what the circumstance_?
I sat in a Wells Fargo once locked in a staring contest with a banker there. They wanted a debit card to process a wire transfer to pay the down payment on a house. I signed up for the account online and had chosen not to get a debit card. I could withdraw all of my money as a cashier's check if I wanted, but standard procedure would not initiate a wire transfer. It was not, in fact, an "exception" to allow me to bank with them that day, it was a stupid rule that prevented me from doing so initially.
Imagine being detained in another country where you're prevented from leaving. Should the bank still say "nah, you've got to come here in person, we don't make exceptions." They could call the US embassy where you're located for proof. There are a lot of things they could do to resolve the situation. In fact, arguably _the whole value proposition_ for the bank having a customer service line _is to resolve exceptions_.
Here's another hypothetical. Imagine you just became one of the world's most famous people overnight. The entire media apparatus, and a team of wikipedia editors, were racing to fill in every one of your biographical details, interview everybody who's ever known you, and put it all on the Internet for everyone to read. Are you sure you want anybody to be able to call your bank, answer the security questions you selected a decade ago, and wire all all your money to a bank account in the Caiman Islands?
I would not be surprised if the bank had gotten 50 such phone calls over the preceding two months. The fact that one of them happened to actually be Pope Leo is just the punchline. I'm sure there actually is a way to accomplish this without him coming to the US, but it should 't be accessible to a voice on the phone.
The whole value proposition for the bank having a customer service line is to RESOLVE exceptions.
Yes, perhaps the first-line customer service should stick with the policy. If they cannot handle the situation (either to lack of knowledge or authority), the first line reps should ALSO FIND and ESCALATE the exceptions to a rep who DOES have the knowledge and authority to resolve the problem
When a company does not do that, they demonstrate that, despite all their marketing statements that they care about and value their customers, they, in fact NEITHER give a fck about nor value their customers.
> Scianna then somehow connected with the bank's president, who reiterated that its policy requires in-person changes. The response was simple, McCarthy said.
> "Well, then the pope is going to move his account to a different bank."
> In the end, the bank made an exception.
Honestly, he should have moved his account anyway if the bank in Chicago has a strict in-person policy for some actions. That's never going to be practical for a person who lives in Vatican City. If he's going to be living in the Vatican until he dies he might as well use a local bank.
> That's never going to be practical for a person who lives in Vatican City. If he's going to be living in the Vatican until he dies he might as well use a local bank.
These may have been 'legacy' accounts, as he was a bishop in Peru for almost a decade:
So he was born and raised, and had early ministries in the area, but has been outside of Chicago for a number of recent years. It may have been easy enough for him to travel back home (?) when he was 'only' a bishop or cardinal, but has been more difficult more recently.
Dealing with / consolidating old accounts may not have been a priority for him.
I’m not understanding why they would do anything differently just because he’s the Pope. They shouldn’t have hung up on him but that’s the only customer service issue here.
Well, that's why it was his last-ditch effort, because it was unlikely to work.
But the reasoning is that many companies will go out of their way to help "VIPs" and may even have a separate team to handle them that has more discretion than normal front-line support staff would.
So sure, worth a shot if all else fails.
Why can't they call the Vatican and confirm? You can, in fact, call (edit: and fax!) the Vatican switchboard:
https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en/info.html
Because the pope isn’t on par with a random person. He’s like the figurehead for more than a billion people.
[flagged]
usatoday.com -> access restricted
I'm curious to why does the Pope need a bank account at all. He's provided housing. He's fed and watered. His transportation is covered. He has a Swiss Guard security detail. For life.
He obviously had the account before he became Pope, but when he did become Pope, he had to change his residence to another country. In today's world, it does seem unreasonable for a bank to require somebody to make an international trip just to change a phone number. If he can prove that he already has access to the accounts, that ought to be enough.
did you know Rolex are quite popular in Vatican to the point that they offer a latin day wheel on the day-date.
Just because you are provided with necessities, does not mean your every material need is met.
Sometimes even the pope wants to buy a birthday card for a niece or nephew.
My uncle is the pope, but all I got was this Hallmark card with a tenner in it.
Why would a bank require someone to go to a branch to change their phone number? I can change my contact info on the website for all the financial institutions I use.
The branch is the last place where a real person meets another real person. Even that person looks up everything on their terminal, and the whole thing is probably security theater, but I think having at least one physical backstop is a good idea.
My banks require physical presence for stuff like changing phone numbers and nominees. We get OTPs on our phones, so that makes perfect sense.
My mom works at a credit union and the staff are constantly saving people from scams just because the customer came in and the staff had a chance to notice something fishy happening.
The physical presence requirement makes a whole bunch of exploits not scale.
Maybe they don't except email addresses with .va TLD
the devil is in the details.
Did he try asking to speak with their manager?
All he needed to do was grab a mobile device, install the Mobile Banking App which is surely available in his region, and then get past Cloudflare/Anubis, sign into it with the credentials he set up beforehand, correctly answer the MFA challenges in the official Augustinian SIM or Augustinian Peruvian Outlook, and then poke around in the Settings gear or Profile Dropdown or tap his avatar or Contact info until he discovers it’s greyed out, then use the Customer Service chat where live agents are available in a Chicago timezone, and then the agent informs him they are powerless to update that info because the chat connection is 3rd party/unauthenticated, and please call our Customer Service phone number during Chicago hours.
Then he can recount his tale of woe before getting to the point where he is suddenly a public figure where everyone knows where he lives, his mother’s maiden name, the street where he grew up, his Kindergarten teacher, and all his donkeys’ names
Then he can post the PII update to X @pontifex and go viral
This is the definition of convenience.
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs called The Pope. So what?
Good! Security should never make up front exceptions.
Why should it be an exception? Why is it a rule that he has to show up in person in the first place? What is the point of even having security questions if they don't trust them? Who, exactly, is changing their address to _Vatican City_ that will not require special handling _no matter what the circumstance_?
I sat in a Wells Fargo once locked in a staring contest with a banker there. They wanted a debit card to process a wire transfer to pay the down payment on a house. I signed up for the account online and had chosen not to get a debit card. I could withdraw all of my money as a cashier's check if I wanted, but standard procedure would not initiate a wire transfer. It was not, in fact, an "exception" to allow me to bank with them that day, it was a stupid rule that prevented me from doing so initially.
Imagine being detained in another country where you're prevented from leaving. Should the bank still say "nah, you've got to come here in person, we don't make exceptions." They could call the US embassy where you're located for proof. There are a lot of things they could do to resolve the situation. In fact, arguably _the whole value proposition_ for the bank having a customer service line _is to resolve exceptions_.
Here's another hypothetical. Imagine you just became one of the world's most famous people overnight. The entire media apparatus, and a team of wikipedia editors, were racing to fill in every one of your biographical details, interview everybody who's ever known you, and put it all on the Internet for everyone to read. Are you sure you want anybody to be able to call your bank, answer the security questions you selected a decade ago, and wire all all your money to a bank account in the Caiman Islands?
I would not be surprised if the bank had gotten 50 such phone calls over the preceding two months. The fact that one of them happened to actually be Pope Leo is just the punchline. I'm sure there actually is a way to accomplish this without him coming to the US, but it should 't be accessible to a voice on the phone.
I received email a few weeks ago and it landed in Spam, so I contacted Live Agent Chat and asked if they sent it.
“No! That is a scam! Do not click on anything in there!”
I copy/pasted more and said “So there is actually no annual vote for board members this year?”
And the agent thought for a while and said “oh, that, yes that is real!”
This deserves reiterating:
The whole value proposition for the bank having a customer service line is to RESOLVE exceptions.
Yes, perhaps the first-line customer service should stick with the policy. If they cannot handle the situation (either to lack of knowledge or authority), the first line reps should ALSO FIND and ESCALATE the exceptions to a rep who DOES have the knowledge and authority to resolve the problem
When a company does not do that, they demonstrate that, despite all their marketing statements that they care about and value their customers, they, in fact NEITHER give a fck about nor value their customers.
> Scianna then somehow connected with the bank's president, who reiterated that its policy requires in-person changes. The response was simple, McCarthy said.
> "Well, then the pope is going to move his account to a different bank."
> In the end, the bank made an exception.
Honestly, he should have moved his account anyway if the bank in Chicago has a strict in-person policy for some actions. That's never going to be practical for a person who lives in Vatican City. If he's going to be living in the Vatican until he dies he might as well use a local bank.
> If he's going to be living in the Vatican until he dies he might as well use a local bank.
Like, say, the Vatican's own bank? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_the_Works_of_Rel...
> That's never going to be practical for a person who lives in Vatican City. If he's going to be living in the Vatican until he dies he might as well use a local bank.
These may have been 'legacy' accounts, as he was a bishop in Peru for almost a decade:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_XIV#Bishop_of_Chiclay...
So he was born and raised, and had early ministries in the area, but has been outside of Chicago for a number of recent years. It may have been easy enough for him to travel back home (?) when he was 'only' a bishop or cardinal, but has been more difficult more recently.
Dealing with / consolidating old accounts may not have been a priority for him.
Maybe he owns property in the US or has accounts here or something where it would be more of a hassle to use a foreign bank