VATICAN CITY – The Vatican is insisting that relations with Italy are on track despite an embarrassing few days which saw the pope chastise Rome's mayor in public and another Vatican official make disparaging remarks about him in private.
Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino drew the Vatican's ire after suggesting that Pope Francis wanted him to attend the church's World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. Marino, who is in charge of preparations for Francis' big Jubilee Year of Mercy starting in December, attended the final events of Francis' U.S. visit.
Asked en route home if he had invited Marino, Francis said neither he nor anyone from the Philadelphia organizing committee had invited him.
Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, who co-sponsored the Philadelphia event, was subsequently caught complaining about Marino during a prank phone call.
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