“Seldom in history have a man’s four-score years been turned with greater joy to all men who seek peace and righteousness here on earth, with greater and holier triumph following long days when bodily illness seemed ready to claim its due.”

If the above words from a 1937 editorial in America strike one as a bit over the top, cut the editors some slack: They were written in honor of Pope Pius XI on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Still, for a birthday card to a man called “Papa,” not exactly something you would find in the Hallmark “Dad’s Birthday” section.

Another pope—our current pontiff, Leo XIV—is celebrating a birthday this Sunday, Sept. 14. Leo is turning 70, an age signaling rest and retirement for most folks, but one that, in the world of popes and cardinals, makes him all but a youngster.

How will he celebrate his big day? And how has the church celebrated past popes on their natal feasts?

Naturally, a good place to start would be a birthday cake. Earlier this week, some excited Vatican workers took some liberties and instead provided the pizza-enthusiast pope with his first present: a comically large pizza with his name written in mozzarella cheese. Not his favorite deep dish pizza from back in Chicago—although some particularly devoted visitors gifted him a pie from Aurelio’s back in July—but also not a bad start.

Pizza parties are nothing new at the Vatican. In fact, Pope Francis received an even larger pizza for his 81st birthday celebration, which measured in at a whopping 13 feet.

Besides eating pizza, Francis would typically spend his birthdays with those he sought to serve: the poor and vulnerable. To celebrate his 77th, he attended Mass with three homeless men. The chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where they celebrated, was graced by an extra-special canine visitor, an adorable dog brought by one of the men. 

Pontiffs have also spent their special day with young people: An old news clip from 1956 shows Pope Pius XII receiving an audience of Catholic school children to celebrate his 80th at the Vatican, and Francis met with sick children who were being treated at a free Vatican clinic on his 82nd birthday. Using the occasion to spotlight the work at the “Santa Marta” Pediatric Dispensary, Francis implored us to “lower ourselves, as we lower ourselves to kiss a child.” A beautiful message, certainly, and I’m sure the kids were happy just to have some of his enormous cake.

He did the same for his 87th, again focusing on others and Jesus’ upcoming birthday rather than his own. For most, having a late December birthday might mean an unfortunately curtailed celebration in the midst of the craziness of the holiday season, but Francis never seemed to mind. 

Francis also seemed more interested in celebrating our baptisms, which he called our “second birthdays.” In a Wednesday address from early in his pontificate, he preached, “The second birthday is the one on which you came into the Church.” He went on to tell believers to “find out the day on which you were born to the Church, and give thanks to the Lord, because at Baptism he has opened the door of his Church to us.”

Francis was not alone in using his birthday to shine a light on God and celebrate others. For Pope Benedict XVI’s 80th birthday, Vatican employees got the day off along with a bonus on their paychecks. A $667 bonus check is a pretty great gift to get on someone else’s birthday (especially adjusted for 2007 dollars).

Don’t think that means Benedict didn’t know how to party. Our Bavarian former pontiff received a special hometown entourage for his 90th, complete with pretzels and a rather hefty mug of beer. He thanked his aptly described “lively and joyful” countrymen for the gift while praising the religiosity of the Bavarian people.

If one looks at the historical record, celebrating popes’ birthdays seems to be a mostly modern phenomenon. Name days—the feast days of saints for whom one is named—have instead had special significance for pontiffs. Even recently, Pope John Paul II, formerly Karol Wojtyla, gave Vatican employees his name day, or onomastico in Italian, off instead of his birthday in devotion to his patron, St. Charles Borromeo. Francis, formerly Jorge Bergoglio, would celebrate his name day on the Feast of St. George, during which he would often engage in service, including in 2018 when he distributed ice cream to local food banks.

What we do know this year is that Leo has had some raucous birthday celebrations before prior to becoming the pope. OSV News reported that he had to “block off multiple days” for celebrations back in Peru since birthday celebrations there “are very big, more than in America,” according to Fr. John Lydon, O.S.A., an Augustinian priest who once lived with Leo. While the future pope did not have an “all-night dance party” per one Peruvian custom, it seems that the pope anticipates an even calmer birthday observance on Sunday. (Or who knows—he might stay late at the “Grace for the World” concert being held on his birthday eve Saturday night, his birthday eve, in St. Peter’s Square.)

Pope Leo’s birthday also coincides with the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the commemoration of St. Helena’s discovery of the True Cross in the Holy Land in 326 A.D. We can expect Leo to celebrate the feast as well and likely follow the example of prior pontiffs ’ example in highlighting Christ rather than himself.

Whether it’s pizza, puppies or partying, hopefully Leo gets some time to enjoy his day. Perhaps he will also get some well wishes as flowery as those that appeared in that 1937 America editorial originally published for Pope Pius XI. Our prose today may fall short:

“The words once spoken by our Holy Father in profound sense of his vast responsibility are still true: ‘With the assistance of Divine Grace, the destiny of the human family lies in Our hands’; and those hands are surer and mightier than ever.”