Pope Grabs a Pizza

ROME, Oct 18, 2007 -- The pope is about to get a little saucy.

Never one to pass up an opportunity to have some fun -- and get some attention -- Naples' world-class pizza makers have invented a pontiff's pizza.

Pope Benedict XVI travels to Naples Sunday for a one-day visit to celebrate Mass and attend an interreligious meeting.

In honor of his visit, one of Naples' most famous restaurants, the bastion of Neapolitan cooking Ciro a Santa Brigida, has come up with this latest addition to the endless list of pizzas available in the city that invented the original fast food.

Ciro a Santa Brigida owner Carmine Stendardo described his creation to ABC News in a phone interview: "We see this as a red circle with a center made with corn and mozzarella; yellow and white, the Vatican colors," he said gleefully. "We have created this pizza as a gift to the pope as we do for every famous person who comes to Naples. It fills us with pride that the Pope is coming to Naples. It's a historic moment, a lovely moment, an important moment for us!"

Sunday evening before leaving for the Vatican, the pope will pray and venerate the famous relics of Naples' patron saint, St. Gennaro, in the chapel dedicated to him. San Gennaro's dried blood, which is kept in glass vials in the church and is said to liquefy miraculously twice a year, is still the focus of great religious devotion in the city.

Not everyone in Naples is in a welcoming mood, however. Anti-pope and anti-clerical slogans, including ones reading "Death to the Pope" and "Hang the Pope," appeared on city walls during a student protest last week. Six teenagers suspected of writing some of the graffiti were detained Oct. 12.

"That was just silly kid's stuff. We are all extremely proud he is coming, and this is our way of giving him a gift indirectly," said Carmine. And though Ciro a Santa Brigida doesn't expect the pope to stop by for a slice of pontiff's pizza, he would of course be very welcome.

In the meantime, in his honor, Neapolitans can try the "pizza del pontefice" starting tonight