Argentina's president tried to give Pope Francis' foundation 16,666,000 pesos. The pope refused because 666.

Pope Francis rejects donation from Argentina president Mauricio Macri .

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 14 June 2016

Pope Francis has asked the educational foundation Scholas Occurrentes to turn down a donation totaling 16,666,000 pesos — nearly $1.2 million. His reason? In part, because "I don't like the 666," Francis reportedly wrote in a postscript of his note to the Argentina-based foundation. In the Bible, the number 666 is deemed the "number of the beast," or the devil's number.

Now, the 666 was far from the only reason Francis pushed the organization — which touts itself as "an international organization of pontifical right approved and raised by Pope Francis" — to reject the donation. The man behind the money was Argentine President Mauricio Macri, a man with whom The Guardian reports Francis has long had a "frosty relationship," largely over the center-right president's austerity measures.