Church - Real or not: the calendar of beautiful priests
Now, in the final weeks of the year, the man is once again one of the most recognizable faces of the Eternal City. The new "Calendario Romano" for 2024 is currently hanging everywhere in the souvenir stores around the Vatican. The same young man in a collar and cassock, a very friendly face of the Roman Catholic Church, smiles from the cover as he has done for years. The black robe with a white stand-up collar is practically the everyday dress for clergymen here. However, the gentlemen are usually a little older and don't always look quite so happy.
The "Roman Calendar" was first published in 2004. After the cover page, you can discover a different man in church attire every month, all of them similarly young and similarly attractive. Over the years, the printed work has become one of the best-selling souvenirs from the Italian capital. It now hangs on every continent. This probably has less to do with the fact that the calendar also provides practical information about the Vatican, such as the names of the various popes from Peter to Francis or the opening hours of the local pharmacy.
The "pin-up priest" is not a priest at all
The reason for the sales success is more likely to be that the men of the month like to be depicted with subtle eroticism. Older tourists are reminded of the TV series "The Thorn Birds" with Richard Chamberlain, who played a priest who loves a woman a little more than his God. The calendar is also popular with gays. In any case, hardly anyone calls it by its real name. It is better known as the Calendar of Beautiful Priests or the "Preti Pin-Up" ("Pin-Up Priest").
On its 20th anniversary, however, it was revealed that the previously anonymous man on the cover is not a cleric at all - and never has been. In reality, he is a Sicilian called Giovanni Galizia, who now works as a steward for a Spanish airline. When the photo was taken, in front of a church in Palermo - not Rome - Galizia was 17. He is now 37.
The "March priest" is a real estate agent
Back then, Galizia posed for a hobby photographer friend from Venice, Piero Pazzi. His idea was to photograph Italian cities with their classic characters: Venice with gondoliers, Rome with priests. "I never thought that the photo would still be in circulation 20 years later," Galizia recently told the newspaper El País. A guilty conscience because he pretended to be a priest? Not at all. "I didn't do anything bad. I was just posing for a photo, that's all."
In fact, many people probably suspected right from the start that not everything in the calendar was as it seemed. A few years ago, it emerged that the "March priest" - a man in full regalia - was a real estate agent from Spain. Many also had doubts about the man on the cover. In the meantime, rumors circulated that he had renounced celibacy and married or that he had died of drugs. Galizia is doing well. But some priests are also genuine: "August", for example, a priest from Poland.
The Vatican has had no objections to the "Calendario Romano" over the years. At most, the Church emphasizes that it is an "individual initiative". The calendar currently costs eight euros. Year after year, tens of thousands of them are sold in Rome, always shrink-wrapped in plastic. The owner of a souvenir stand with a view of St. Peter's Basilica says: "The calendars with the current pope sell best. But the beautiful priests are a perennial favorite."
The "nuns" edition did not sell
In any case, business is going so well that calendar maker Pazzi is not thinking of stopping. He also wants to bring out another one for the "Holy Year" in 2025, when a particularly large number of visitors are expected in Rome. The "Calendario Romano" is now also available on the internet. In principle, it has remained unchanged over the years, as can be seen from the hairstyle fashion, for example. Sometimes the photographer even receives requests from real priests who would like to be included: The "August priest" from Poland made it into the calendar this way.
In view of the great success with the priests - whether real or not - Pazzi had also tried his hand at a calendar with nuns in the meantime. However, the women's edition did not sell particularly well. The experiment was then immediately over again.
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Source: www.stern.de
