--- description: The last time Pope Francis watched TV was July 15, 1990 title: Here's What Pope Francis Might Have Seen When He Last Watched TV image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c426300b5ded508/6988518fcd1bba29306fb7cb/pope.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's What Pope Francis Might Have Seen When He Last Watched TV  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 26, 2015 3:06 PM CUT  Pope Francis attends the Pentecost Celebration at the St. Peter's Basilica on May 24, 2015 in Vatican City Pope Francis attends the Pentecost Celebration at the St. Peter's Basilica on May 24, 2015 in Vatican CityFranco Origlia—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 26, 2015 3:06 PM CUT These days, Pope Francis makes headlines with practically every step he takes, and his actions and pronouncements are regular fodder for TV news—not that he would know. This weekend, in an interview with the Argentinian newspaper _La Voz del Pueblo,_ the Pope [revealed](http://time.com/3895938/pope-francis-tv-pizza/ "undefined") that the last time he watched TV was almost exactly 25 years ago, on July 15, 1990. It remains a mystery which TV program made him hit the “off” button once and for all. If he was watching world news, July 15, 1990 was generally quiet day. But here’s a look at some of the top stories of the day, which he might have seen before putting down the remote: **A hit from Hammer:** Music-news watchers were [keeping an eye](http://time.com/vault/issue/1990-07-23/page/73/ "undefined") on M.C. Hammer’s album _Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em,_ which looked like it was about to become the best-selling rap album in the genre’s history. **A rat in the White House:** First Lady Barbara Bush [announced](http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-10/news/mn-382%5F1%5Fwhite-house "undefined") that a few months earlier she had inadvertently taken a swim in the White House pool at the same time that a rat was doing the same. The episode ended with the President killing the rodent. Meanwhile, Neil Bush, their son, was [implicated](http://time.com/vault/issue/1990-07-23/page/22/ "undefined") in a banking scandal. **A shortage of priests:** A [recent study](http://time.com/vault/issue/1990-07-23/page/80/ "undefined") of U.S. Catholics had shown a severe shortage of priests. The report predicted that, within 15 years, the nation would only have one priest for every 2,200 Catholics. **A hit in theaters**. The movie _Ghost_ had been released that weekend (July 15 was a Sunday) but would not be released in Argentina [until](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099653/releaseinfo "undefined") the fall. Likewise, the future Pope would not have been able to watch that weekend’s top U.S. box-office draw, _Die Hard 2: Die Harder_, which didn’t make it to his region until August. **A World Cup loss:** A week earlier, on July 8, West Germany had [defeated](http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/italy1990/index.html "undefined") the Pope’s home team, Argentina, in the World Cup finals. The [particularly ugly game](http://time.com/2977297/world-cup-argentina-germany-referree/ "undefined") would likely have continued to be rehashed at least through the 15th—enough to make any Argentinian soccer fan walk away from the sofa. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3896048/pope-francis-1990-tv-news/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3896048/pope-francis-1990-tv-news/"},"headline":"Here's What Pope Francis Might Have Seen When He Last Watched TV","datePublished":"2015-05-26T15:06:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:36:59.984Z","description":"The Pope hasn't turned on the tube since July 15, 1990","url":"https://time.com/3896048/pope-francis-1990-tv-news/","keywords":["Television","Pope Francis topic","faith"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c426300b5ded508/6988518fcd1bba29306fb7cb/pope.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c426300b5ded508/6988518fcd1bba29306fb7cb/pope.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pope Francis","caption":"Pope Attends The Pentecoste Celebration","creditText":"Franco Origlia—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3896048/pope-francis-1990-tv-news/","name":"Here's What Pope Francis Might Have Seen When He Last Watched TV"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"2013 Person of the Year: Pope Francis Reimagines the Papacy","description":"From his comments on gays to his penchant for Twitter, Pope Francis's every move has garnered strong reactions from the world media.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aYRnrfUV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-11T12:42:10.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aYRnrfUV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3896048/pope-francis-1990-tv-news/","duration":"PT3M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3896048/pope-francis-1990-tv-news/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```