Today, Pope Francis leads the world's estimated 1.2 billion Roman Catholics and serves as absolute monarch of the Vatican City State. But when the pontiff was still known as Jorge Bergoglio, his fame was largely due to the tasty barbecue he prepared for his fellow seminarians, CNN reported.

"Every Sunday, we had 'asadito' -- a lot of meat," Father Hernán Paredes, his longtime friend and fellow Jesuit, told the news channel. "And Pope Francis was the chef. It was something simple; but, still it was a lot of work for one person cooking for others."

When they studied together in the mid-1980s, Bergoglio would also wash the clothes of all 100 seminarians. Much has changed since those days, but one thing has not: Paredes still refers to the pontifex maximus as "Jorge," a habit that may be just fine with a pope who has largely shunned the pomp and protocol that had marked his office for centuries.

During the first stop of his South American tour, Francis this week celebrated Mass before an estimated crowd of up to a million faithful in the Ecuadorean port city of Guayaquil, NBC 6 South Florida noted. But that did not mean that he could not take some time out to meet with yet another old friend, Father Francisco Cortes, United Press International revealed.

Cortes, 91, said it was "act of humility" on the part of the pope "to remember a person who is nothing special," according to the Wall Street Journal. But Francis had apparently been insistent on reuniting with the man with whom he had corresponded remotely for work decades ago.

"Normally, a pope is a very distant figure," Cortes noted. "But with Francis, it is the exact opposite."

On the flight that took him from Rome to the Ecuadorean capital of Quito, the pope also took some time to prepare a video message for a Lisandro Zeno, a 25-year-old Argentinan who is suffering from leukemia, infoBAE reported.

"Lichu, I was told about your illness," Francis said, using the man's nickname. "I pray for you, and I ask Jesus to accompany you; may he give you strength, return you to health. Allow yourself to be led by the hands of God, and may the Virgin (Mary) protect you," the pope added.