Pope Francis Signed These Two Bottles of Bourbon to Support Charities in Kentucky

Whenever Catholic priest Jim Sichko visits the Vatican, he always brings a gift for the pope. Since Sichko is from Lexington, Kentucky, bourbon is usually his go-to. (He made headlines a few years ago for giving the pope a rare 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle.)

During a trip in May, Sichko presented Pope Francis with two bottles of bourbon—but this time, he didn’t let the religious leader keep them. He asked Pope Francis to autograph the spirits and then give them back, so that he could auction them off for charity, per the Catholic News Agency’s Daniel Payne. Pope Francis happily obliged—but not without cracking a joke first.

“Which one is mine?” he asked Sichko.

On December 7, the signed bottles will be sold at a live auction at Sotheby’s in New York. Each bottle is expected to go for between $1,000 and $10,000, though predicting their final sale price is more of an art than a science.

“These estimates have a wide range, as we expect that Pope Francis’ name and signature holds incredible value around the world,” says Zev Glesta, assistant vice president and whiskey specialist for Sotheby’s, to Whisky Advocate’s Sean Evans. “Plus, those few lucky buyers can truly say they have a blessed whiskey shelf.”

The proceeds will be donated to several nonprofits, including an animal shelter and the Maxwell Street Legal Clinic, which provides legal assistance to immigrants in Kentucky. Sichko selected those causes because of their connection to the pope. Pope Francis is named after St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals; he has also advocated for the compassionate treatment of migrants.

Both bottles are filled with bourbon made at Willett Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky. They’re “barrel picks,” meaning that Sichko visited the distillery and selected a specific barrel of whiskey to be bottled. Sichko donated most of both barrels to charity. But he saved the first bottle from each one to be signed by the pope and auctioned off.

One bottle commemorates Pope Francis’ tenth anniversary as pope and features the papal Coat of Arms. The bourbon inside was made from Willett’s original recipe and aged for ten years.

The other honors the 2025 Jubilee—a 12-month period in which Catholics can ask for the forgiveness of sins for themselves or deceased loved ones. (Jubilees typically only take place every 25 years, and this year’s theme is “Pilgrims of Hope.”) Also aged for ten years, the bottle features the official jubilee sticker.

Why has Sichko gone to such great lengths to raise money for charity? In 2016, Pope Francis selected Sichko to be a papal missionary of mercy, a small group of priests who can pardon certain sins. More broadly, they’re also tasked with “spreading a message of hope and kindness through acts of compassion,” writes Tom Wilmes for Garden & Gun magazine.

Pope Francis receiving his 23 yr old Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon as we shared our love of My Ole Kentucky Home! pic.twitter.com/mWereczKs9

— Father Jim Sichko (@JimSichko) April 10, 2018

Sichko has taken that mission to heart. He often performs random acts of kindness, like donating 10,000 N-95 masks during the pandemic and helping a flooded grocery store rebuild. He’s paid for funerals and burial expenses, supported laid-off miners and made large donations to food pantries.

“One of the things that Pope Francis has said to us missionaries is that we’ve got to smell like our sheep,” Sichko told Esquire’s Dave Holmes in 2018. “We’ve got to get dirty. We’ve got to get in the trenches.”

The bourbon auction is just his latest project—even though he doesn’t drink much himself.

“Kindness costs nothing,” Sichko tells WLEX-TV’s Drew Amman. “It costs nothing to be kind.”

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.