Francis told Italian daily Corriere della Sera he doesn't appreciate the myth-making that has seen him depicted as a "Superpope" (as an Italian street artist recently painted him) who sneaks out at night to feed the poor (as Italian newspapers have suggested). In response, the church has done more than other institutions to be open and transparent about sexual abuse by its employees, Francis said. In addition, at his general audience, someone tried to give him a replica of an Oscar statue that said "Oscar Pope" on it. In the interview, Francis also said he and Pope Benedict XVI had agreed that the emeritus pontiff wouldn't remain hidden away, as Benedict had said he would spend his retirement, but would participate more in the life of the church. "I thought about grandparents who with their wisdom, their advice, strengthen families and don't deserve to end up in an old folks home," Francis said. "To paint the Pope as a sort of Superman, a kind of star, seems offensive to me," Francis told Corriere della Sera. "The Pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps soundly and has friends like everyone else. A normal person."  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis finds the hype that is increasingly surrounding him "offensive," according to an interview published Wednesday, even as the Vatican itself is marking the anniversary of his election with commemorative stamps and coins and a DVD with never-before-seen footage of the pope.
– As an Argentine cardinal, Jorge Bergoglio backed gay civil unions, and Pope Francis is signaling in an interview that the Catholic Church as a whole could tolerate at least some of them. While maintaining the church's position that "marriage is between a man and a woman," Francis nonetheless conceded that "we have to look at different cases and evaluate them in their variety." He says civil unions can be a financial help to couples when it comes to matters like "medical care," notes CNN. Other highlights in his interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera, as per the AP: He's been the subject of comic-book-inspired street art and a fan recently offered him an imitation Oscar, but Francis isn't digging the whole Superpope thing. "I don't like ideological interpretations, this type of mythology of Pope Francis. If I'm not mistaken, Sigmund Freud said that in every idealization there's an aggression. Depicting the pope as a sort of Superman, a star, is offensive to me," he noted. "The pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps calmly, and has friends like everyone else. A normal person." A new magazine looks unlikely to alter that "superhero" perception. Today sees the launch of Il Mio Papa, or My Pope—"a sort of fanzine," says editor Aldo Vitali. The new magazine will cover the pope's pronouncements, offering a weekly papal centerfold emblazoned with a quote. It will take a look at Francis' personal life, "but of course it can’t be like something you’d do for One Direction," Vitali tells the New York Times. "We aim to be more respectful, more noble." Francis is opening up the gardens of Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence, to members of the public, the Telegraph reports. "It was Pope Francis himself" who made the decision," says a Vatican official.