UPDATE FROM IWATE JAPAN

MEET THE POPE'S SHOEMAKER

Pope phones Argentine shoemaker for shoe repairs

Vatican City, Apr 18, 2013 / 01:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis, who has quickly become known for his austere style, will continue using his simple black shoes and has called his shoemaker from his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina to repair them.

For 40 years, 81 year-old Carlos Samaria has provided shoes from his store on the outskirts of the Argentine capital for Pope Francis, who was known before his election to the papacy as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.

“Hello Samaria, it’s Bergoglio,” the phone conversation began.

“But who is this?” the shoemaker responded with surprise.

“Samaria, it's Francis, the Pope!” the Holy Father replied.

According to Vatican Radio’s Brazilian program, the Holy Father told Samaria, “No red shoes, make them black like usual.”

Samaria said the shoes Pope Francis wears “are simple and made of black leather, with a smooth toe and no decorations. 

“If you were to grab one of the Pope’s shoes it would feel like a clog, without any adornment but with laces,” the shoemaker explained.

“He doesn’t want new shoes, only that I fix his old ones,” Samaria said.

However, he added that he is planning to “make a new but simple pair to be ready for him when he says I can visit, in May.”

A DAY TRIP TRIP TO TEMECULA

~ Mark ~ Linda ~ Mary Ann ~

THREE NICASTRI GIRLS

Three Nicastri girls just lost an inheritance

Italian police have seized over €1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) in assets -- the nation's largest sting ever -- from a Sicilian businessman believed to have ties to the Mafia, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Tuesday.

Vito Nicastri, who owns a variety of alternative-energy businesses that focus on wind and solar power, is thought to have funded groups and operations within the Mafia.

Nicastri has been linked to Matteo Messina Denaro, believed to be Mafia's current "boss of bosses," according to General Antonio Girone, head of the national anti-Mafia agency DIA.

The seizure was the largest ever under Italy's current anti-Mafia laws, according to officials from the DIA.

Among the assets seized were more than 40 wind and solar power companies registered in Sicily and Calabria.

Nicastri has been in federal custody since 2009, when he was arrested with three others in an investigation that led to the raids Tuesday.