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Pope Francis received a bottle of bourbon signed by Mark Stoops

Zack Geogheganby: Zack Geoghegan05/20/22ZGeogheganKSR
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Photo by Stefano Costantino | SOPA Images | LightRocket via Getty Images

Yes, that is a real headline.

Father Jim Sichko, a catholic priest in the diocese of Lexington, KY, made a recent trip to Rome where he was able to meet with Pope Francis, delivering many gifts to the head of the Catholic Church. A couple of the items Father Jim presented to Pope Francis were two bottles of bourbon, one of them signed by Mark Stoops.

The bourbon was a limited Citrus Bowl edition of Wm. Tarr whiskey, which Stoops released back in March. Father Jim also gifted Pope Francis a bottle of some classic Bulleit bourbon.

This actually isn’t the first time that Father Jim has presented Pope Francis with the Kentuckian’s version of golden water. Following the devastating tornados that happened in western Kentucky this past December, Father Jim traveled to the Vatican City to gift another bottle of bourbon to Pope Francis, which Father Jim eventually took back home to auction off in order to raise money for the victims.

Pope Francis is no stranger to good bourbon, either. He knows it when he sees it. Back in 2018, he praised a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle — which was also gifted to him by Father Jim — calling it “very good bourbon”.

New bucket list item: drink Mark Stoop’s bourbon with the Pope.

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2025-08-03