WASHINGTON — Showing some humor on his first day on the job, Seattle’s newly minted Archbishop Paul D. Etienne tweeted that he ended up taking the stairs to his new office, referencing an incident a day earlier when his boss, the pope, was late to the Angelus prayer Sept. 2 because he was stuck in an elevator.
“What is it with elevators?” he tweeted. “I had to take the stairs on my first day in the Seattle chancery building as the new archbishop. Nothing like a good cardio exercise to start the day!”
Archbishop Etienne became the head of the Archdiocese of Seattle Sept. 3 after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop J. Peter Sartain because of health reasons.
The day before the announcement, Pope Francis was seven minutes late to his regularly scheduled appointment with thousands of pilgrims who gather at St. Peter’s Square on Sundays to hear the pontiff, pray with him and receive a blessing.
The pope explained after finally making an appearance that day that he was “blocked in an elevator for 25 minutes,” according to a story by The Associated Press. He asked for applause for the Vatican City’s firefighters who rescued him.
In reference to the incident, Archbishop Etienne tweeted: “At least I did not get stuck …”
