--- title: The Pope Had A Birthday Pizza Party And Everyone Was Invited description: Pope Francis is known for his love of pizza canonical: https://time.com/5069082/pope-pizza-with-kids/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-18T19:13:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:34.287Z og:title: The Pope Had a Birthday Pizza Party And Everyone Was Invited og:description: Pope Francis is known for his love of pizza og:url: https://time.com/5069082/pope-pizza-with-kids/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74675945e5803aff/6988f581fb4eac40c589504f/gettyimages-894055036.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3600 og:image:height: 2025 og:image:alt: Pope Francis Delivers His Sunday Angelus Blessing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Pope Had a Birthday Pizza Party And Everyone Was Invited twitter:description: Pope Francis is known for his love of pizza twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74675945e5803aff/6988f581fb4eac40c589504f/gettyimages-894055036.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Pope Had a Birthday Pizza Party and Everyone Was Invited > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a643198f-cccb-48c1-a303-f409bdab58f6&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Astronauts Had a Pizza Party That Was Literally Out of This World [Watch (HLS stream): Astronauts Had a Pizza Party That Was Literally Out of This World](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oC0CnFL0.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2017-12-04. The first-ever pizza party in space is getting sky-high reviews. Astronauts at the International Space Station posted pictures and a video over the weekend of their small, made-from-scratch pizza pies._ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 18, 2017 7:13 PM UTC  VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - DECEMBER 17: Pope Francis delivers his Sunday Angelus blessing in St. Peter's Square on December 17, 2017 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis today turns 81 years old. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images) VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - DECEMBER 17: Pope Francis delivers his Sunday Angelus blessing in St. Peter's Square on December 17, 2017 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis today turns 81 years old. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images) Franco Origlia—Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 18, 2017 7:13 PM UTC Every elementary school student knows that it’s only polite to invite your entire class to your birthday party, but what do you do when you’re the Pope? You gather up a group of children and invite them all to a pizza party. [Pope Francis](http://time.com/5051804/pope-francis-jerusalem-embassy-trump/?iid=sr-link2), who turned 81 on Sunday, celebrated his birthday with a 13-foot long pizza with a candle stuck in the middle, [according to the _Associated Press_](http://wgntv.com/2017/12/18/pope-francis-celebrates-81st-birthday-with-pizza-party/). Since the [Pope](http://time.com/5044681/pope-francis-rohingya-bangladesh/?iid=sr-link5) probably can’t eat 13 feet of pizza (or shouldn’t anyway, what with gluttony being a mortal sin and all) he invited a group of children who attend a Vatican pediatric clinic to share in the fun and the feast. After blowing out the candle, he told the children that it was his birthday wish to watch them dive and “eat all four meters” because it would make them grow. Francis is known for his love of a good pizza, [telling _TIME_ back in 2015](http://time.com/3743995/pope-francis-anniversary-five-years/) that the only drawback to being the leader of the Catholic Church is that he can’t slip out to a pizzeria for a slice. Later, [Pope Francis](http://time.com/5050310/pope-francis-holiday-happiness/?iid=sr-link4) made his weekly appearance in front of the crowd packed into St. Peter’s Square. There, thousands of children shouted birthday wishes to him, too. No word on whether he had any pizza sauce on his robes. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5069082/pope-pizza-with-kids/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5069082/pope-pizza-with-kids/"},"headline":"The Pope Had a Birthday Pizza Party and Everyone Was Invited","datePublished":"2017-12-18T19:13:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:34.287Z","description":"Pope Francis is known for his love of pizza","url":"https://time.com/5069082/pope-pizza-with-kids/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Pope Francis","Pizza","food and drink"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74675945e5803aff/6988f581fb4eac40c589504f/gettyimages-894055036.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74675945e5803aff/6988f581fb4eac40c589504f/gettyimages-894055036.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pope Francis Delivers His Sunday Angelus Blessing","caption":"Pope Francis Delivers His Sunday Angelus Blessing","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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5069082/pope-pizza-with-kids/","name":"The Pope Had a Birthday Pizza Party and Everyone Was Invited"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Astronauts Had a Pizza Party That Was Literally Out of This World","description":"The first-ever pizza party in space is getting sky-high reviews. 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