Pope to visit Asti for cousin's 90th on Nov 19-20

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 19 - Pope Francis will visit the Piedmont spumante town of Asti for his female cousin's 90th birthday on November 19-20, the local bishop said Wednesday.
    Argentine-born Francis, 85, will have his private family visit on the Saturday and will then say a public Mass in the Piedmont city on Sunday, said mons. Marco Prastaro.
    "We're happy that the Holy Father is coming to Asti," said Prastaro.
    "Our city must be able to show it is the city that is dear to the Holy Father, a beautiful image that Asti can give the world, in which the Pope feels at home".
    The pope, whose birth name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was born in Buenos Aires on December 17 1936 but his father Mario José Bergoglio was an Italian immigrant accountant born in Portacomaro, in the province of Asti.
    His mother, Regina Sívori, was a housewife born in Buenos Aires to a family of northern Italian (Piedmontese-Genoese) origin.
    Mario José's family left Italy in 1929 to escape the Fascist rule of Benito Mussolini. (ANSA).