To celebrate the visit of Pope Francis in the United States this week, a store in Long Island is selling fragrances to honor his Holiness. Colognes and aftershaves with the pope's name are some of the most popular souvenirs for the papal visit, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Bottle sales for the scents are apparently rocketing off the shelves of souvenir shops and religious stores around New York.
"It was put together in honor of Francis," said Sarah Ryan, one of the owners of the Advent Shop that sells Pope Francis souvenirs in Long Island.
The colognes Ryan sells at her shop are from Excelsis USA, which also offers the merchandise on its site and at Amazon. There are many variants, but two of its most sellable are "Francis" and "The Pope Cologne."
The "Francis" cologne was originally released in 2013, "to celebrate the Petrine succession of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis, Pontifex Maximus, 266th Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church," according to Excelsis USA. It is priced at $27.00 and has a citrus scent with touches of bergamot and sandalwood.
"Intriguing, fresh, crisp, masculine scent. Not your run of the mill cologne," says one satisfied customer at Amazon. "The Pope Cologne," an aftershave priced at $26.95, has hints of citrus and violet.
"My husband loves this stuff, but personally I think it smells like Pine-Sol. Yuck! It is, however, a more masculine cologne than what most cologne smells like today. I think the men's cologne today is a bit feminine smelling; this stuff reminds me of what a really old wise man would wear. Kind of like a pope!" a review on Amazon stated.
"It's a crazy thing to see and it's good for business," Ryan told WSJ. "The fact that everyone is excited about it is really a good thing. And I think Francis, the kind of man he is, would find it all kind of strange."
