Pope Francis

DAILY ROUTINE: Pope Francis rises on his own at around 4:30 a.m. and spends the next two hours praying, reflecting on the Scripture readings for the day and preparing his morning homily.  He delivers it off-the-cuff at the 7 a.m. Mass in the chapel of the Vatican's Santa Marta Hotel where he lives.  After Mass, Francis greets his faithful followers in the atrium outside the chapel, then walks a few metres into the hotel dining room for breakfast. He often will have fresh-squeezed orange juice and membrillo, a quince jelly, with toast, which is extremely popular in Argentina.

After breakfast, Francis takes the lift up to the second floor to his home.  He then gets to work, either staying in the hotel or heading to the Apostolic Palace if he has formal audiences.  Occasionally he takes a break to recite the Rosary. After a 1pm lunch in the dining room, Francis takes a siesta of about 40 minutes and carries on working into the evening, often taking care of correspondence. He tries to get in an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament before dinner, though he confesses to sometimes falling asleep before praying!

Dinner in the dining room is self-service, cafeteria-style at 8pm. Before taking the lift back upstairs, he will be sure to courteously thank the Swiss Guard, the Vatican policeman and reception desk clerk on duty in the hotel lobby, and say good-night. He's in bed by 9pm, reads for an hour and is asleep - "like a log" - for the next six hours or so.

HOBBIES: Francis is a lifelong fan of football and has kept his membership in his beloved San Lorenzo club however he never watches it on TV. He enjoys reading the newspaper, particularyly Rome's popular daily Il Messaggero. Interestingly, Francis is a huge fan of the tango and on his birthday, thousands of people joined in a huge tango party on the streets of Rome. In a recent interview, he talked in depth about his love for the dance which as an Argentinian, he claimed "It is something deep within me."

FAVOURITE FOODS: Francis adores mate, the typical Argentine tea, and readily sips from mate gourds handed up to him from fans. He prefers red meat to fish, does not enjoy spicy food and has a sweet tooth: friends from home bring him alfajores, Argentine cookies filled with dulce de leche and covered in chocolate. Nevertheless, visitors to the Santa Marta dining room say he's not a finicky (fussy) eater and that he consumes pretty much anything he is served. He has said he misses going out for pizza and recalls fondly getting pizzas after watching San Lorenzo games at Buenos Aires' "Gasometro" stadium.

Daisy 6HC

Memorable day with Birmingham Royal Ballet Company!

On Thursday 28th January, Eva, Freya, Daisy and Adele were chosen to attend King Edward VI School for a workshop with the Birmingham Royal Ballet Company, currently performing Swan Lake at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. Nervous but excited at the prospect of the adventure ahead, we arrived at the school and were shown to the dance studio by Miss Baranette, a teacher at King Edward's and organiser of the event.
After stretching and exercising, we started our plies with our instructor, Josh, a dancer at the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He told us the story of Swan Lake and we listened to some music (Dance of the Cygnets). Then, in groups of four, we choreographed our own versions of the famous cygnet dance, which we then performed to the other schools that had joined us.

Performing plies

Finally, we learnt how to mime - miming is acting without speaking and just using body language.
When the day soon came to an end, we got autographs and had our photo taken with Josh.

Budding ballet dancers with Josh

This is a day we will never forget!


Daisy and Freya, Year 6